https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2020/01/08/mom-says-daughters-classmate-forced-girl-to-have-sex-at-st-augustine-middle-school/
It was on my radar that this week may be a tough week of avoiding the media coverage and not letting my emotions get the best of me. I knew the trial for Weinstein was starting, and I had no desire to hear about the evil that he seems to be. Little did I know though that something much closer to home would pop up. When I saw the headline about a school in the district in which I live and teach, I of course began to read. The article is limited, as it should be, but still.....as a teacher who gets so attached to and protective of my students, a mother of an almost 11-year old boy, and a girl who found herself in a somewhat similar situation many years ago, the sadness hit me from each and every one of those perspectives.
Struggling to sleep, I'm brought back to poems and letters that I've written over the years. Writing has always been my own personal therapy.. I wrote this poem in my journal when I was sixteen one night when I couldn't sleep. My heart aches for this 16 year old me with the bubbly handwriting, lonely and confused girl, in total denial, struggling to find just the right words to put my heart on paper and share with no one.
My Bad Dream
Written in 1996
More so though, my heart aches knowing a little girl way too young to ever deal with such emotions is probably struggling to sleep also, just miles away from me. Please pray for her, for her parents, and for the boys and their families as well.
xoxo,
Kel
