A Sad Day

Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of one of the worst days of my teaching career. It's one of those days that every teacher hopes - prays - will never come, and it's a day that still, a full year later, leaves me choked up every time I think about it. You see, one year ago one of my 7th grade students was killed in a car accident on his way to school. 

I was overwhelmed with grief when our guidance counselor told me about the accident. My own sadness, though, paled in comparison to the sadness I felt for our students when they heard the news just before lunch that day. As humans, it's tough to handle our own grief. But it's even tougher to have to watch - and help - 600 middle school students process the emotions that come with losing a dear friend. 

I learned a lot about helping kids handle grief in the days and weeks that followed.  I always let them talk about their friend during class if they felt the need to, but I also always tried to bring the topic back around to the lesson. I didn't want them dwelling on the loss day after day - they needed to experience some normalcy and see that even though their friend was gone, other things in their lives would remain constant. Plus, I'm not a counselor.  I was grieving myself. I didn't feel equipped to deal with a room full of crying students should the conversation linger on the topic of their lost friend for too long. 

That seat in my classroom remained empty during 4th period for the remainder of the school year. We typically change seats after spring break, but the students in that class were very adamant about leaving the seat empty so I went along with their wishes. 

Sometimes I still catch myself looking at that desk and thinking about him. His contagious smile, his silly jokes, his amazingly positive outlook on life. Although he was only on this Earth for a brief 12 years, he will forever be in our hearts. 

RIP Lane.