A gift

Last year, one of my students got a concussion midway through the term. He was supposed to memorize and recite some poetry, but he was having an awful lot of trouble with his memory. So I told him that as long as he had it done before the end of the term, I'd accept it for full credit, and I emailed his parents to let them know that was what I was doing.

He did his recitation the last day of the term and did fine. I'd forgotten the incident entirely, to be perfectly honest.

Then last week, I was at my small group meeting, and one of the other women told me that she'd taken her child to the pediatrician's office to see the nurse practitioner. She and the NP were chatting, and the NP mentioned her son went to my school. My friend said, "Oh, one of my friends teaches there," and mentioned my name.

It turns out the NP was that student's mother. She told my friend about how much it had meant to her that I'd given her son extra time and been so understanding.

My friend told me that story, and I felt humbled. What hadn't seemed like a big deal to me at the time had made a difference for that kid and his family.