Twenty-eight years ago today, my life changed in ways I've never been able to express with enough emotion. It was Easter Sunday, and I was blessed with 8 pounds 1 ounce of pure love. At 10:28 A.M., Dillon James Curtner was born and every moment since then, I've been grateful to be his mom.
I know you're thinking: "Julie is only 29 years old so how could she have a 28 year old son?" I know, right? Okay. Maybe I'm not 29. I was, however, very young when Dillon was born. But life works the way it's supposed to. I knew I was going to go to college to become a teacher, so Dillon became a part of that dream. He went to college with me. I taught Dillon to read and write while I was learning how to teach kids to read and write. I got a computer when I was in college (it was the early 90's so they were new!) and Dillon learned how to use it before I did.
Throughout the years, I've used my love for my kids to help understand the parents that I work with at school. I've used my precious hours at home with my kids to understand that parents don't want lots of extra work sent home. I always try to put myself in the parents' shoes before I do anything that might be questionable. My parent role has always been a part of my role as a teacher.
Another thing that I've done over the years is talk to my students about my own kids. They like to hear that I know about things that are going on with them because I've had kids in my house. That's getting harder now that my kids are grown, but becoming a grandma has made me think maybe I can keep up with the lingo. (Right now, Elmo is life with Lyla Grace so maybe in a year or two.)
I also think that my love for my kids has helped me with compassion and caring with the kids. I know that when my heart hurts for a student, I'm usually thinking about my own kids and how I would feel if he or she were my own. Before you yell at me, you definitely don't have to be a parent to be a good teacher. I'm married to the best teacher in the world and he's not (technically) a parent. But I know that looking back on my career, my kids played a huge role in my career choices.
So Happy Birthday to my first born child, Dillon. Even though coming up with words are my life, I never feel like I have enough of them to express my love for you. So I dedicate this blog post to you and hopefully now that you're a daddy, you can imagine how much your mom loves you.
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