A Heartwarmer

If you have ever been in an elementary school for any period of time you know two things.  One, kids come in from recess and need a thousand things...I have to go to the bathroom...So and so kicked the soccer ball over the fence..My knee hurts...Can I go to the nurse...She looked at me...etc, etc, etc.  And two, they smell like wet dog.  Just a fact.  Not really pertinent to the story, but information you need to know.

On this particular day all of the above happened, except for one boisterous voice that needed to be heard.  The difference was this voice was not speaking to have his needs met, but to let out something he witnessed.  Something that bothered him.  Really bothered him.  Okay.  I'm listening, Dalton.  Go ahead.

"Mrs. Torres, Janie (not her real name) invited everyone in her class to her birthday party on Saturday.  Everyone is making fun of her because she did, and they decided to tell her that they would come, but not show up."

Now let me stop right here and share a few things.  Little Janie was an outcast.  She had one friend, and that one friend moved in the middle of the year.  Her family was really, really poor.  I mean really poor.  She only wore dresses, and the dresses she had were hand-me-downs from ages ago.  In good condition, but WAY out of fashion.  For her to invite her whole class (with handmade invitations) to her birthday party was a big deal.  Okay, back to the story...

"Dalton, I'm glad that something like this bothers you.  It shows you care."

"Anyone else hear about this?" (the whole class raised their hands)

"Okay.  What can we do to make this better for Little Janie?"

Lots of different answers came about, and we discussed each one in depth.  Most solutions came from the girls who decided to ask her to play with them more, and show interest in the things she liked doing.

I was pretty pleased with their solutions, but noticed Dalton hadn't said much.  He just said he was going to do something.  I kind of wondered what that something was, but didn't probe too much.  He was deep in thought.  We moved on.

That was on a Friday.  I came home and shared the story with Steven, but other than that I didn't let the situation consume me too much, and decided to check on Little Janie first thing Monday morning.

Monday morning came, and Little Janie was no where to be found, but I did run smack into Dalton.

"Mrs. Torres, have you seen Janie this morning?"

"No, Dalton I haven't.  That's just who I was looking for.  If I find her, I'll tell her you were looking for her."

As Dalton turned to walk away, I saw he had a large gift sack in his hand.  Complete with a card and tissue paper.  Man, the tears started welling up in my eyes.   I knew why he was searching for Little Janie.

Turns out he never found her that morning, and it was a good thing, because it all came down to perfect timing.  Since he didn't see her before class, he decided to take the gift to lunch.  He knew he'd see her there along with the rest of her class.  After washing his hands, he walks straight over to her, hands her the gift, and says, "I know I didn't get invited to your party, but I wanted to give you this."

That girl was beaming!  I mean ear to ear smiling.  It was a beautiful moment.  She opened the gift and found a new purse with some girly things inside.  Dalton had hand picked it out, and spent his own money to buy it.  The rest of the kids (who had been a bunch of meany pants to her) just sat there and stared.  The best part about it was they wouldn't make fun of Dalton for giving her a gift.  They were all friends with him.  The girls wanted to go out with him, and the boys knew he could beat them up.  It was a beautiful, beautiful moment.  Moments that make you thankful for teaching.