This job of mine

I am not a mother.

I never thought I'd say those words at 35, but I'm not. 
It's ok.
I believe there is a plan and everything is for a reason.  I also believe it can still happen for me.
This really isn't the sole purpose for this post.

Today one of my students dislocated her elbow in a freak accident...while we were on a field trip to see a play at a high school ten minutes away.  Yeah....

This child was so strong and brave. She was in an unfamiliar place, with an unfamiliar nurse (who was excellent!), and hurt.  She didn't cry. During the ordeal, I held her while the nurse and the EMT's did their thing.  It was determined that she would need to go to Children's Hospital.   I was going with her.  I needed to go back to the auditorium  to get my purse and assured her I would be right back. This is the only time she did cry.

It hurt my heart. 

I also got yelled at by a high school teacher for running in the halls. (lol!) 

We rode the ambulance downtown with some excellent EMTs who kept things calm and chatted with her about books she read and what my classroom might look like if I wasn't there by the end of recess.

They decided a zoo.  I silently agreed. :)

After her parents got there and we switched roles, my principal picked me up and treated me to lunch, and I went back to school to her worried classmates to reassure them she was ok.

It's exhausting and emotional this job.

Tonight as I was reflecting on the day, it reminded me of the time in my early years teaching when I had a student cut his head open on a fence in the playground. He was a TOUGH kid both physically and emotionally. I used my outer shirt (I was wearing another underneath,don't worry) to help stop the bleeding.  I believe he got 13 stitches that day.  After that day, Eric also started opening up to me just a bit and treated me with a little more respect.

That same year another student, a tiny girl named Ashley, was choking on a piece of hard candy.  Truly choking. The kids were lining up for lunch and were loud as lining up for lunch seems to be. She purposely knocked over my desk supplies to get my attention and then collapsed. I had taken CPR/First Aid three years earlier. Somehow, I remembered the Heimlich and that piece of candy flew across the room.

I never believed when people said that you will know what to do if the time came. I also never believed the item being chocked on would fly that far.  It happens. Believe me. It does.

We went down to the office, the nurse checked her out, called her parents and she insisted she wanted to go to lunch because she was hungry. Finally, they allowed her to rejoin her class. I then broke down and cried. Hard.

Adrenaline is a crazy thing.

A few years ago, I had a boy break his arm at recess playing soccer. His parents has "highly important" jobs. Apparently, so important it took his dad two hours to get to school. Seriously?  His father walked in the door in his three piece suit and the first words out of his mouth were "You think your arm hurts,wait til you feel your backside."  It was one of those times I wanted to kick out teeth...multiple times. 

I'm not trying to toot my own horn.
Today's experience just solidified to me that teachers are more than just educators.
Teachers all over and everywhere do these things all the time.
We care for these kids.

We care. We hurt for these kids we are entrusted with. We want so badly for these kids to be ok. 
I think that's why it hits so hard when our jobs are attacked for whatever reason.

Being a teacher in Ohio holds a lot of uncertainty right now. I do not want to open up a debate about good teachers v. bad teachers or funding or Senate Bills because of course everything is relevant and there are exceptions. I will block all negative posts because this is my blog and I'm allowed to write what I want.  You don't have to like it.

It's still the job I would choose even though it's harder than h-e-double hockey sticks. ;)