Hard lesson

Tonight was open house for my Seth. He was excited to see his friend and they ran off and started talking and playing.  Once open house started, they both listened attentively to the entire presentation.  A lot of information was presented. We learned about the curriculum they are using, the grading procedure, resources they have, their daily schedule, etc. When the principal hangs out in the classroom and an extra teacher is present, you start to wonder what's going on and get a funny feeling its nothing good. Tonight we were informed that Seth's teacher is being surplussed.  Seth and I are definitely people that pick up on the feelings of others and we feel things so deeply. We are kind and caring but we have big hearts that are easily broken. 

As open house came to a close I went and thanked her for giving Seth a good start to fourth grade. She told us how great he was and that he would be in good hands with the new teacher.  We exited the classroom, made our way down the hall and out the doors.  I noticed Seth was looking away.  I noticed his breathing changed.  I could feel his hurt.  I asked him how he felt after hearing that Mrs. Simpson wouldn't be there....it took some time but he eventually got out that he was sad, she was a good teacher and he didn't want her to go anywhere.  We told him it was ok to feel sad, we gave him a hug and we did the only thing we could think of - we bought him a milkshake and fries.  Dennis started telling him jokes on the way home and Seth started laughing.  Ivan piped in with, 'keep doing it daddy, you are making Seth stop crying.'  Ivan didn't like to see 'water' (tears) coming out of his eyes. We made our way home and got ready for bed.  

As he laid down he started crying again, I asked him what was wrong, he just said 'what we talked about earlier.' My heart breaks for him.  I checked on him every ten minutes until he was asleep. I am still crying. It is a tough lesson to learn, that sometimes good people come into our life and don't stay as long as we would like them to. What an impact she has made on my Seth in such a short amount of time.  He is finally asleep, but tonight he gained some wisdom that I wish nobody ever had to, the kind that comes with tough experiences and heart ache. 

My sweet boy, we cried together tonight. 

Of course I am sure there will be good things to come with the new teacher....for tonight we are just embracing the sad feelings, learning a tough life lesson, cherishing the people who have left an impact on our life, and dusting ourselves off to begin tomorrow anew.