A tree fell

Friday morning, we were hit by awful storms.

My power went out for a second, then came back on immediately.

One of the middle schools in my district lost power and sent everyone home.

Some of my colleagues were out for 36 hours.

Kids came with all kinds of crazy stories of local damage.

It was crazy.

Now, obviously, these storms aren't a good thing.

But there was one thing.

At seven in the morning, an hour before school started, I got an email.

It was from one of my freshmen girls.

It was simple and to the point.

It said, "Ms. Hirsch, Can I please turn in my project Monday? A tree fell on our house and my mom's car so I won't be at school today. If not, it's ok, I'll take the late penalty."


Are you freaking kidding me?

I responded that OF COURSE she could turn it in Monday.

How amazing is that?

This terrible, tragic thing happened to her house.

And her first thought was about getting work done for me.

At this time of year, it is so easy to get negative.

So easy, in fact, that when I went to the office to report her absence, another adult almost ruined my day.

She asked me if there was pictorial evidence since it was probably a lie.

I told her, as gently as I could, what I thought of that.

Then I left.

Another teacher was on my heels by happenstance.

I asked her if I had been too harsh.

She said no.

That's good. I can get pretty impatient with people who have a bad attitude about my kids.

I can be a bit abrupt about it.

I guess there were two good things here.

Baby girl gives a crap about her grade in a very real way.

And I didn't go too crazy in response to end of year negativity.