Salt instead of sugar.

I got a delivery in class last week.

A junior, who I had as a freshman, stopped by.

He handed me an orange certificate and a piece of chocolate pie.

It was so sweet of him.

He's a quiet kid.

Not a kid who I would suspect held me in any particular esteem.

As a freshman, he did what he was supposed to.

And not much more mostly.

As a sophomore, he a locker right down the hall from my room.

Every morning, I would see him and say Good Morning or Hi.

I try to say hi to every kid I know, every time I see them.

If I can, I try to use their names.

It makes them feel special.


Anyway, he always said hi back, albeit quietly.

One time, one of his friends tried to mock me before school.

It didn't work as I have already made fun of me in pretty much every way that matters.

But he didn't know that.

Later that day, he came by to say "I told them not to do that, Ms. Hirsch."

I made sure he knew it was ok.

His concern was sweet.

This year, I haven't seen him as often.

But every time I do, I still say hi.

So, I wasn't so surprised to see him this week, but his message floored me.

I've been called a lot of things, but coolest, most amazing, and creative aren't terms kids usually use.

And then that like about saying good morning every day.

Whew, that hit deep.

It just goes to show the smallest gestures we make really do make a difference.

It also helps that my name is the only spelling error.

Grammatically imperfect, but the English teacher in me appreciates the caliber of the spelling anyway.

The cutest thing was, he warned me.

He apologized by saying "I'm sorry if it doesn't taste good. We accidentally used dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate so it might be kind of salty."

I told him I loved dark chocolate and sent him on his way.

Then I tasted it.

I think they used salt instead of sugar.

It was really pretty awful.

The crust was delicious, so I ate that.

Later I sent him a thank you email to let him know it was pretty bad, but more importantly, the gesture meant a lot to me.

It was, despite the salt, a very good thing.