A Little Moment to Share

I am struggling to capture how meaningful this moment was in words but I will try.

I took Ludwin for a sunny Saturday walk around the campus and was questioning how I am going to leave him. Everything he does makes me melt. I want to cry and laugh at the same time. We took a seat at the basketball court to watch the older kids play awhile. One of my more emotionally challenged special education students comes over, and tries to give me a hug (you may remember Enrique- with 2 “E’s”). Ludwin pushes him away. Then he tries to give Ludwin a hug and he is having none of that. For a cuddly one, he can be picky. Enrique sits down at first angry, then after contemplating it a while he puts one arm around my back and the other around Ludwin’s, and rests his head on my shoulder. With Ludwin facing us, he begins rubbing his back and singing a lullaby. With the sun in my face I just closed my eyes and started to silently cry, but in a really good way. He sang two more songs like the first, then gave us a hug, got up and ran to his house for snack just like an 8 year old would do.

And that was it. Probably the single best moment I’ve had here. And it had absolutely nothing to do with me. I was just lucky enough to be a witness.