Today I attended an academic awards ceremony at Rooster’s school.
As I listened to over 300 names being read out, a student walked up behind me. She’s a senior this year, but in the two years that I subbed, she was in several of my classes. I subbed for her twin brother for over a month last year. She also works at a concession stand at one of our local recreational parks, so I’ve run into her quite a few times when I attended soccer games.
When I saw her today, she asked me if I would be attending the school’s graduation ceremony next month. I smiled and told her that I had not been invited.
She told me she had a ticket for me and quickly left to retrieve it from her locker.
When she came back, she handed this to me…

I hugged her for the thoughtfulness that she had shown me.
She had no idea how much I needed this affirmation that I am touching children’s lives. Teaching is a difficult profession. There are highs, but there are also lows.
This golden ticket certainly ranks up there as one of the good moments.
The icing on the cake is that I’ll be able to watch as the students I grew extremely close to last year celebrate the pinnacle of their high school careers.
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