Teaching

 The most stressful but also the happiest year of my life was when I taught Junior High English. I taught it for the second half of the year after another teacher quit. First I ran the after school program at that private school. From 2 to 3pm was my time with the adorable 4 and 5 year olds. Then 3 to 5pm I ran the study hall and helped watch the kids outside after that until 6. There were about 70 kids that I was in charge of.

 My co leader was a guy named Victor. He was in my class year in high school. We went to the same church. We hung out a few times and played soccer or went swimming. I sort of liked him just for his gorgeous blue eyes, but he was only a friend. It is totally God that kept us from dating because a year after I worked with him, he molested a student and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. I always knew something was strange about him. He seemed like a kid himself.  It frustrated me a lot how he interacted with the kids. It was more like he was one of them rather then in charge of them. But some guys never grow up. 

The happy part about working at that school was that it was in SoCal so the weather was year round perfect. The school was beautiful. The kids were usually well behaved and very smart. It felt like I got to be a mom to all 70 of them at one time. I think originally the school was just a church with tons of Sunday school rooms. It felt like a very safe and happy place. Probably it was the most safe and happy place I had ever been in. 

It was a huge shock to hear about Victor being accused. I didn't believe it at first. The school shut down. The super happy place was closed. There were accusations in the past about him that our boss had ignored, the police decided the school was defective and made it close down. All good things come to an end at some point. 

Maybe in the future I will find another place like that. A place where tons of kids can feel like family and there is love and joy. May God help more places to feel like that. May God protect those in charge from demons that infect their minds. Stupid demons. They always ruin the most beautiful things. 😢