Homecoming

Yesterday I was cramming the final pieces of information on Latin America into the brains of my geography class when one of my students stopped me and told me that someone was at my door. As I walked out the door, I saw a woman with a man in a military uniform. She told me that her son was in my class and unbeknownst to him, his dad had returned form Iraq. I invited them in. Any description I could give for the look on that boy's face wouldn't suffice. It was some combination of puzzlement, excitement and joy. His mom had tears in her eyes, as did I and other members of the class. I dismissed him those two minutes early so he could enjoy the two weeks he gets before his dad has to go back. It was beautiful.