Michael

The story I shared earlier about a former student  reminded me of another student at a different time in my career. When I knew Spencer (from the other day) I was in a really good place or so it seemed. I was the Special Education Coordinator for the district and things were going well in my life. I was really proud of that position and I was making a difference bringing change to their Special Education Program. This of course was before Kathey was diagnosed with terminal cancer and my drug addiction took over. Let’s now jump forward 3 years. At the end of the 2000 school year I was asked to resign from that position that I was so proud of because I was not a good employee anymore. I was late, missed work, and I was basically falling apart. 
By the grace of God , who I didn’t even acknowledge, I got a job teaching in Garland. The problem was I was a total mess. Kathey’s death had destroyed me and by this time I was using meth every day trying to numb my pain. There is no excuse for my drug use but even in the midst of my breakdown I loved my students, I still think about them today. I taught a Life Skills class that year and worked with moderately to severely challenged students. Many were in wheelchairs and some wore diapers. I had a boy named Michael who really touched my heart , he was a quadriplegic. He was the sweetest boy and one of the highest functioning in my class. Because of his physical disabilities he wore diapers and I would take him down to the classrooms for the most severe and medically fragile students to change him. There were lifts to help because it wasn’t easy lifting a 17 year old boy from a wheelchair to a changing table . It was not a comfortable job either but my main concern was Michael. I didn’t want him to feel any embarrassment or shame during this time so we talked a lot. We talked about his life and my life . We would wind through the halls having deep conversations and he would share his heart with me. 
At the beginning of the year Michael lived in a group home because his grandmother could not take care of him anymore, it got to the point where she couldn’t lift him to change his diaper . Both his parents had died in a car accident when he was younger and that is how he came to live with his grandmother. One day as we traveled down to the changing room Michael began to cry and I asked him what was wrong. He told me he had just learned that he was going to have to leave the group home and move into a nursing home because now the group home couldn’t handle his needs. He was so sad to leave his friends and he didn’t want to live in a nursing home at the age of 17. My heart broke and I cried for him not understanding why he had to endure so much hardship and now more pain. I also cried because I couldn’t do anything to change his circumstances and I was just so sad about it all. 
But he was a Christian and talked about God a lot, especially that day . That day through tears he talked about Heaven and how when he got there he wouldn’t be limited by his wheel chair anymore, he wouldn’t have to wear diapers, and he talked about how he would be reunited with his parents who he missed but barely remembered. I’ll never forget his faith and his eyes shining through those tears. He said “Mrs. Washington you will get to see your sister again one day and your mom and brother too “ Through my own tears I smiled at him wishing I had his faith and that I believed what he said. But I didn’t because I was so lost at the time and I had no foundation to build upon. I wanted what I saw in his eyes but I didn’t know how to get it and I just felt so tired and worn. 

Not long after that I got arrested and I never saw Michael again. I learned he died in the summer of 2001 just a few short months after he shared his faith with me. When I learned that news I was really sad because I would have liked to have seen him, all of them, and apologize for not being a good teacher that year , for letting them down when they needed consistency. I never got that chance but when I see Michael in Heaven I will hug his neck and let him know. And when I think of Michael in Heaven, and I know he is there, I see him running through the streets of gold with his arms outstretched as if to fly. He is free now, free from the chains of his paralysis and the thought of that makes me smile. So very thankful God placed him in my life at such a dark time and protected this memory. Fly high Michael and say hello to my Alexis Rose Washington.