Learning to See (standard:romance, 994 words)
Author: Paulette	Added: Aug 13 2007	Views/Reads: 3086/0	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
It took a child to teach me to see, not only from my eyes but from my heart. It took a child to show me how to look deep........deep inside

His name was Buddy and he was my student.  As a Kindergarten teacher I
have the chance to not only love children but be loved by children.  
Buddy was my student almost twenty years ago and this is the child that 
taught me to see.  He taught me to really see.  You see Buddy was 
blind.  I learned that year to not just love these children but I 
learned from him, how to really love a child.  Buddy was my gift and in 
honor of his love for me i return every year and love more and with 
every child I touch I remember my beautiful little boy, Buddy. 

He was five and scared to be taken by the hand to a place full of noises
and smells that came from sighted people who had no idea of the 
feelings this small boy had.  Teachers, parents, students....had no 
idea of the frustrations this child was facing everyday, not knowing if 
he would get hurt, not knowing what would happen to him next.  Everyday 
was a challenge to this precious little boy, and here I was, given the 
chance to make a difference in his life.  I fell in love with a child 
that year.  I could feel his intellegence but he was not able to 
demostrate it as others did, so I challenged him as much as I could 
without making him feel fear or frustrations.  If he cried, I called 
his name or went to him and reached out to touch him and he calmed 
himself, knowing that I was there. 

Everyday his family brought him to school and I could see the love that
they had for him.  Whether it was his father or his mother, his 
grandmother or his brother that would bring him in, I could feel their 
love and concern for this boy.  I knew that I had been given a gift, 
and the gift was Buddy.  As I watched this family love this child, I 
felt a love for them.  This child taught me to see...........to look 
past the outward silly things, but to look into the eyes and hearts of 
these people who put it all out there to make this child as comfortable 
as possible.  I learned to love. 

His father,Kendall, always amazed me.  He was a shy man from a large
family and as a child I had grown up with his brothers.  I had never 
really gotten to know him or the others in his family, but I found 
myself wanting to know him.  He was shy and I found myself feeling a 
respect that made me keep my distance. 

I know it was difficult for him and as I watched him  struggle I felt a
tug at my heart.  There again I could see something I had not been able 
to see before.  I was able to see, I was able to look inside this man 
and I could feel his love for this child. 

As years went by  and Buddy grew, he left our school to go on to a
school for the Blind.  I missed seeing him in the halls but prayed that 
his chance at the blind school would give him the skills he would need. 
I lost contact with Buddy and his family but I never forgot them. 

As the years passed by, many children touched me, but none touched me in
the way Buddy did.  Thank goodness for this child because he gave me 
that gift...that gift of love and I pray everyday that the children I 
touch benefit from it. 

Years, years, years passed by and one night I received a call that I did
not recognize and when I asked who it wasand he told me his name was 
Kendall, I was confused.  The call was a mistake, but out of curiosity, 
I asked a friend, Sara who Kendall was, and to my surprise, it was 
Buddy's father.  Being playful as I am, I told Sara to watch.  I dialed 
the number and he answered.  He answered with a voice that almost 
knocked me to the ground.  As I played the game of who is who, I could 
feel that he was intrigued and I told him who I was and that I wanted 
to look at him again.  To my surpise, the shyness I thought he had was 
not there and he told me that he wanted to look at me too. 

We talked for a while in the company of others and as I was about to
leave he shyly and slyly asked if he could call me sometime, since he 
had my number and of course I said, yes.  In a world wind romance, I 
fell in love with Buddy's daddy.  The child who taught me to see and 
how to look deep into a person, had given me yet another gift.  He had 
given me the opportunity to watch his father love his son in a way that 
was deomstrated so differently from the others.  I think I not only 
fell in love that year with Buddy, but also with his father, Kendall. 

The bond between the two of them, bonded me too and now as the days and
weeks go by, I am honored with the love Kendall gives to not only me, 
but to four other small children that are in my life.  My children are 
able to feel the love he has for not only his children but for others. 

The love of a small woman with ten children, taught her son well.  She
taught him how to love and from this love, Buddy was able to learn and 
he taught me..he taught me to see...he taught me so much...my beautiful 
little boy....and his beautiful father.    I will love you both and   
your sisters and brother will know my love.  I will look forward to 
have the chance to return all that I have been given by this family. 


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