transportation day

today i had the pleasure of participating in transportation day at what i thought was "just another elementary" school. i knew little about this school. to be honest, i never knew it existed until i went there.
when i got there, i was told where to park and the students would be coming out in small groups. so, i sat and after a while they started coming out. for those of you who know me, i love children no matter the age, race, or whatever. grown-ups shed their innocence and kids (most) still have that wide eyed wonder about everything. these kids were no different. or so i thought. here is something i copied/pasted from the school website (name deleted):

" (deleted) School is unique in that it serves children throughout Knox County. The majority of students attending (deleted) School are eligible to receive special education services. Most of the students attending (deleted) School are preschool age (three through five years old) and participate in a partial day program. Additionally, there is one Comprehensive Development Classroom-Activities Based (CDC-A) serving school aged students (six through twenty-two years old). This CDC-A class serves multi-handicapped, medically fragile children whose needs are best met in a specialized setting.

as they came out, there were smiles and they look in their eyes i can't describe. when they got on the coach, they were all eyes and they sat at appeared to soak it all in. there are times when i spend time around special needs children, i usually end up sad and sometimes i weep when i think of all they will miss in life. i know that is the narrow mindedness in which i sometimes look thru. at times i weep tears of sadness. this was different. as i said, the look in their eyes was different. they took it all in. they were not sad. they were happy and i was too. what started out as a p.r. day turned into a day i will never forget. i went to show them one of our new coaches. they ended up teaching me to never stop looking at life with wonder and excitement. sometimes the teacher gets taught. sometimes the leader needs leading. today, i was changed thru the eyes of these little angels. ashley, thanks.
until next time...