Eighteen and snow

When Eighteen joined my classroom he was newly arrived from Puerto Rico. He was a skinny little eighth grader who was all knees and elbows, he spoke limited English and always looked like he was waiting for something to happen. I thought he was absolutely adorable but then winter came and I have never seen the look that he had the first time it snowed ever again but I’ll never forget it.

The classroom I was in was on the second floor and we had a wall of huge windows so we could see the sky and the clouds were heavy with snow. The forecast predicted snow showers and at recess the air smelled like snow was coming. As a New Englander I know what it looks and smells like when it is going to snow so I was pretty sure I was going to be driving home in it. What I didn’t know was that Eighteen had never seen snow before. When the first flakes started to fall one of the students saw it and they all went over to see because the first snow of the season is something you watch even if you’ve seen it snow before. There is something magical about the first snow of the season. I called them back after a couple minutes and then saw the look on Eighteen’s face. He looked dumbstruck and in awe. But I didn’t find out until years later why.

When he was in his 20’s he messaged me on Facebook and asked me if I remembered that day and he told me what it had meant to him to see snow for the first time. You would think that it would have occurred to me that someone recently arrived from Puerto Rico might not have seen snow before but somehow that thought never crossed my mind. When he messaged me he described the day in detail and I completely remember it. What I learned from it wasn’t when it happened, it was ten-ish years later when he wrote to me as an adult and shared how impactful that day had been for him. He went back to Puerto Rico for high school so he only stayed the year so I didn’t get to see him in the neighborhood or at games or anything so I would never have known if he hadn’t reached out.

Which is what I learned from Eighteen. Sometimes you don’t know you’re going to learn a lesson until way after the actual event has happened. And sometimes the lesson is one you’ll carry forever. I will never make that kind of assumption about what someone has or has not experienced before and I will never take away an opportunity to see, try, experience something new like that again. As a teacher it’s my job to teach, but as a human my job is to show my students respect and kindness and attention to the details that make up their lives. Thank you for the lesson Eighteen, I deeply appreciate it.