April 25

Today I spent my morning at Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria. Beautiful.
 
I was invited there by one of my former students, Jessica. She was in my class when she was a ninth grader and she is graduating this June. We have been close since she left my class. She has gone through many difficult challenges in her life, some of them placed upon her, and many as a result of her own choices that she made trying to cope with those difficulties. To make a very long and personal story short, she is very fortunate to be alive and well, and I am fortunate to still have her in my life. She has experienced many things that are almost impossible for me to imagine, but she has a wonderfully supportive father and church family and has made it through and become an incredible young lady who will use her experiences to help other young people. Sunday she, along with many other amazing seniors, each stood in front of their (huge) congregation and made speeches. She asked me to come and support her and witness this incredible achievement. It was a wonderful morning at church, and I was so impressed by all of the young men and women who spoke. Many students who go to our school attend this church and there were quite a few familiar faces. I was very honored to be there as Jessica shared her emotional story, taking the audience from tears to laughter many times. I was very touched that she called out to me and waved during her “thank yous” and I spent most of her speech trying to wipe my eyes enough to see her. I thank Jessica and her father very much for including me in this special milestone in Jessica’s life. It is occasions such as this that reinforce to me that we can never truly know the impact we can have on another person's life, and that responsibility can’t be taken lightly. She is an inspiration to me and to everyone that heard her speak. Here I am with Jessica and her dad after 20 straight minutes of crying :)