I drive a school bus as well as work in the local elementary school cafeteria. I see some of the same children during the day as I drive on my school so those children I get to know quite well.
One particular student is the most talkative and always has a smile and a story or conversation for me every day. Her mother tells me that I am her favorite person in the whole world. This student is only in kindergarten and keeps me smiling with the things she says. This particular student has a occupational therapist that helps her because she is a little immature for her age and has some wandering and memory problems. The therapist has given her a plastic tube that she wears around her neck and is used to help her “brain power”.
One extremely hectic day on the bus, when the students were very energetic and full of mischief, my small friend walked up to me during a routine bus stop and said she needed to tell me something. I was concentrating on the students leaving the bus and asked her to please sit down. When I had asked her to sit down I called her by another student’s name because I had just reprimanded that student. I corrected myself and made a little joke out of it saying I must be a little confused today. Her reply to me was that I needed some of her brain power and then I would remember her name. I think she figured out exactly what I need!