cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Denise Cross
I am a huge Lakers fan. Have been since I was a kid in the days of Magic, Kareem, Worthy, Rambis, and many others. Living in the small town of Humboldt, Saskatchewan, where hockey was king, I was in a small group that loved the sport. We would often take trips into the city of Saskatoon, where I would save money and buy Lakers clothing which I would have worn every day if my parents were okay with it. Those items of clothing were so hard to find, yet were so cherised.
The other day, I was on a visit to our high school and checked in with some students. One of them was wearing an NBA jersey and I immediately knew I would have a connection over a shared love of basketball. I asked him what team he loved and he told me it was the Lakers. My eyes lit up as I always love talking about the team, players, and anything going on with the organization. We talked for a few minutes about the team and connected quickly over a shared passion.
I went back to my office that day and saw a Lakers jersey that I have had for the past several years. This was something that, to me, would have been so coveted as a child, but now was just a piece of memorabilia that I did not pay the same attention to. As a kid, I remember my mom packing up some of the sports clothing I had outgrown and giving it away. I was destroyed. Whether it fit, if I wore it or not, whatever, I did not ever want to lose that stuff. It was just too important to me.
Looking at the jersey sitting there I thought of how much I loved this as a kid. I also knew the reality that I would never wear that shirt again. I grabbed it, headed back to the high school, and met with my new friend. As his teacher called him, I told him I wanted to give him something that I loved and wanted him to have it. He looked at me, shook my hand emphatically, and thanked me in an extremely enthusiastic way for something that was really so little to me now. As I watched him go back to the classroom and show what he had just received with such excitement to his peers, I knew his reaction gave me much more than I could ever give him. It is that passion and love we see from our students that inspires me every day to try and be better as an educator.
When I came back to my office today, I received an invitation from the student to come to their class Christmas party. How awesome is that? These little things are something that can make a huge difference in the life of a student, but really, these things do way more for us. That is why we got into education in the first place, right? We wanted to make a difference in the life of those we serve, and I know I have to do whatever I can, even in a position where I am not around kids all of the time, to continue to make these connections with our students.
