A Reminder to be Grateful
When I tutored at NVCC I met a wonderful woman named Shirl. She was in her early 50's and had been diagnosed with a degenerative eye condition; when I met her she could only see about 40% and she would be in darkness within a year. She was remarkable-- she adopted her best friend's daughter in the 70's when her friend died of cancer and no one in the family wanted to take her. When Shirl was diagnosed with her condition her husband of 30 years left her; he didn't want to deal with it. This stripped her of all financial, emotional, and health insurance support. She was returning to school, taking special classes for the blind, and had the most wonderful disposition out of anyone I had ever met. I loved the days she came in, the days she got to speak with my mom-- I think she was a source of strength to my mom, who was struggling with math classes at the time-- if Miss Shirl could get through it, my mom could.
I thought of Miss Shirl a lot when I was going through my last 2 years at GMU, because I quit tutoring and hoped she was ok.
I'm sitting in the Johnson Center now, and a woman asks me if I could direct her to the bookstore (which is blocked by a stage right now in preparation for the Drag Show, which no I forgot my camera...) and I point it out to her, and take a look at the woman on the woman's arm...
"Miss Shirl?"
They stop, and the woman I spoke to looks at me and says "Yes, that's her," quite perplexed.
I introduce myself and Miss Shirl immediately recognizes me, asks about my mom, if she "survived the math classes" and we chatted (I'm a teacher, Miss Shirl can't wait to tell Brenda she ran into me. I bit my tongue to tell her not to do that since I'm the last person Brenda will want to hear of...) We hugged again, I wished her well, and they made their way down to the Bookstore.
Totally brightened my morning.
I thought of Miss Shirl a lot when I was going through my last 2 years at GMU, because I quit tutoring and hoped she was ok.
I'm sitting in the Johnson Center now, and a woman asks me if I could direct her to the bookstore (which is blocked by a stage right now in preparation for the Drag Show, which no I forgot my camera...) and I point it out to her, and take a look at the woman on the woman's arm...
"Miss Shirl?"
They stop, and the woman I spoke to looks at me and says "Yes, that's her," quite perplexed.
I introduce myself and Miss Shirl immediately recognizes me, asks about my mom, if she "survived the math classes" and we chatted (I'm a teacher, Miss Shirl can't wait to tell Brenda she ran into me. I bit my tongue to tell her not to do that since I'm the last person Brenda will want to hear of...) We hugged again, I wished her well, and they made their way down to the Bookstore.
Totally brightened my morning.