Why So Sad?

She and I stood outside the Middle School with all the other mothers of the sixth grade class. She spotted the bus first, the past five days passed at a snails pace. This was the first time one of the boys was away from me longer than their two nights with their father. I was quite surprised at the sadness and void I felt with him not being in the house, I missed him something horrible. As the bus doors opened kids jumped out with wide eyes and bright smiles and then came my middle guy holding his head down dragging his carry on behind him, my heart sank.

I would not dare kiss him in front of his peers so I settled for a little squeeze. While we waited for his luggage to be unloaded we asked, “Why so sad, what’s with the long face?” “As soon as we are in the car and away from THEM I’ll tell you” he then looked at me with a little smile and said “I missed you mom.”

I was aware of his troubles with a few of the cool boys/bullies at school. It’s not easy being a kid with a learning disability in special ed. I voiced my concerns to the proper authorities at school before this trip and we were assured that there would be an abundance of supervision. I’m not unrealistic and I do know that kids will be kids and there is no such thing as a perfect child. It seems that the cool boys made it their goal to make my guy’s trip a living hell. Once we were home we listened carefully, made notes of names and events that occurred. Come Monday morning it looked like I was going back to school, again.

Staying on the Island was not an option as we had an early Saturday appointment with the architect to start planning the addition of a great room on the main floor and two rooms on the second floor. Since two boys were at their father’s already I called to let him know that middle guy was staying with us for the weekend, to say the father showed a bit of concern is a gross understatement.

That night after we settled middle guy in the guest bedroom she opened the conversation with “Don’t get upset”. Of course my antennae go up and she proceeded to fill me in on the details of middle guy’s week. Things have escalated since the last time these children took aim at middle guy. He confided in her and talked to her privately so that he could spare me the details. I had a great deal of concern for my son but at the same time I was greatly relieved that he trusted her enough to talk to her.

The cat was out of the bag about the construction we were preparing to have done on the house, I had not seen a smile on middle guys face like the one I saw that day in a very long time. It was a great weekend for him and for us too. He gained a trusted friend in the woman that would eventually become his step mom. She gained a new buddy who shadows her every move and has become her mini-me. Together they make a great team, sometimes I have to put them both on a time out and I could not be happier.