Motherly Love

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.