A wonderful visit

My Mom, Gabriel and I visited the school where my Dad is a principal Wednesday morning. Jo Kelly is a magical place, where kids from the ages of 2 through 22 with severe physical and mental disabilities go to have their minds and bodies excercised. Each child is medically monitored very carefully, (they have 4 nurses on staff). They are also monitored to see the best way to teach them communication skills. Most students have the mental understanding of a 6 -12 month old infant. Some of the students are blind, deaf, and in rare cases, both. The classrooms are filled with toys that use the sense of touch to teach and inspire. Those classrooms are also filled with some of the most dedicated teachers and teaching assistants I've ever seen. These people have their hands full with some of the most challenging (physically and mentally) days anyone could face. But they are all happy and totally fulfilled with their choice of career.

Dad introduced us to everyone - students, teachers, nurses and cafeteria staff, even the IT guy. He is so happy to be contributing by leading the staff of this school. He's trying to learn all the students' names (they have around 40 or so), and the particulars of their personalities that make them special. But the neatest thing is seeing how much the staff seems happy to have him in return. It takes a special kind of person to not only want to be in this field, but also to figure out ways to make sure the daily challenges don't get to you and burn you out. I can't imagine knowing that some of your students are so fragile that their lives are hanging from a thread. They already lost one boy this year, and it was so very hard on everybody. But they realize that if they let that one loss pull them down, they are leaving many who need them behind. So they move onward.

I had a time in my life when I felt very sorry for myself and my circumstances. I didn't have full-blown depression, thank God, but I was definitely in the dumps most of the time and avoiding people. A work friend and I decided to volunteer at a ranch where disabled kids can learn to ride horses. That place literally changed my life. There were kids with everything from cystic fibrosis to autism. There was one boy in particular who was battling several physical obstacles. His little body was twisted so much that he had to be held up on the horse, and I happened to have enough arm strength to hold him. He was in pain most of the time and had breathing difficulties. Imagine my shock when I realized his goal in life was to get me to laugh. (And to get everyone to laugh, for that matter). When you meet someone like that, you wonder what on earth you have to feel sorry for yourself about.

I felt after our visit Wednesday morning that I had come face to face with many levels of heroism. The heroism that it takes to teach those who others deem unteachable. The students' heroism of just living through another day of obstacles, some of them even managing to smile. And of course, my Dad has always been my hero, and I got to see living proof of why. I'm so proud of him.