I have often shared with friends that one of my greatest fears of teaching is losing a child. I don't know that I could handle my own personal grief. I tend to get very attached to these rascals in my life.
Everyone breathe...I am not losing a child this week!
However, I am keeping a very watchful eye over one of them. I have a student named Micah. He is a spitfire of a young man. He is definitely one of those kids who you bond with simply because of his personality. He is just a ball of energy at school. He may not be the brightest on in the class, but he has one of the quickest wits.
Micah is the youngest of four sons in his family. He has two brothers in high school and one in college. His father is the senior pastor at a local church, and his mother work in the teen ministry.
Unbeknown to me, Micah's mother has been very ill. None of us knew. It has never shown on his face or in his personality. He is always this glowing ball of energy! This week is the week we all found out about his mom's illness.
We learned of her illness this week when it popped up on one of my colleague's Facebook account. I took some time to talk with Micah about his mom's illness, but he would not divulge too much information. Believe me when I tell you that his silence is uncommon. I became very worried. On Wednesday, Micah was absent. I immediately thought something had happened to his mother. I was right. Turns out that complication to her illness caused her to have a heart attack or stroke. (I am not 100% positive as to which one it was.) She is now in a coma on life-support.
Micah actually came to school on Thursday, and I was stunned. I pulled him aside to ask about his mom and why he was at school. He made it clear that he asked his dad to let him go to school. The boy just needed some normalcy in his life. It was clear something was wrong with him, but luckily he has some fantastic friends who kept his mind occupied during the rest of the week.
I have been watching Facebook to keep up this weekend on his mother. It is clear that she will not be here much longer. I worry so much about Micah losing his mother and the effects it will have on him. I cannot imagine losing my mother (or father) at such a young age.
My teammates and I feel helpless in this situation. We have offered our support however we are needed. It is clear we will be needed to help Micah adjust when the time comes.
Now I find myself at a loss. I am not used to feeling helpless. I want to help, but I also know that there are people all around this family helping them with whatever they may need.
I guess I will continue to pray for this family.
Sometimes, all we can do is to offer support. It may be needed, or it may not; but it is all you can do unless he (or his family) asks. As someone who lost a close family member while fairly young (it happened when I was 15, so I was a few years older than Micah is now), I can tell you that just offering support means the world to anyone going through such an experience.
ReplyDeleteI wish him and his family the best, as losing a family member (especially at his young age) is life changing.