From Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leslie-lagerstrom/meeting-sams-teachers_b_2774418.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices
Leslie Lagerstrom
03/09/2013
My husband and I stand to leave, the allotted 30 minutes over almost as if they had never happened. So much to explain in such a short amount of time, we feel rushed and wonder if we really got through… through to Sam’s teachers who will now be in the position to help make his next 175 school days tolerable or a living hell.
As I shake the science instructor’s calloused hand I hope he really understands. His snow-white hair would indicate he has been at this profession for quite a few years, and I expect that has jaded him. Did he take it to heart when I described how gut wrenching it is for Sam to hear the words, “Pick a lab partner”? How hard it is to be put in that position because he’s been there too many times before, knowing it always ends the same way with him standing awkwardly alone while his classmates eagerly rearrange their metal chairs, clanking them together as they slide the seats across the room to be close to their pals. The odd man out because nobody wants to be paired with that kid who “…used to be a girl.”
“Glad to have met you,” I say to the young woman, not yet 30, who teaches English. Going beyond the handshake she ventures to give me a hug and I am filled with gratitude for the simple gesture. Perhaps it was because of the way she maintained eye contact during our meeting when no one else would or maybe could. Shaking her head with empathy as we described Sam’s struggles to fit in, I felt a connection and hope that she is a mother too, because then she will tuck him under her wing and protect him from harm for the 50 minutes he is in her class. At least this is what I want to believe because it is too hard for me to imagine anything else.
Saying goodbye to the gym teacher we can see in his unsympathetic eyes that he thinks this is complete crap. Already outfitted for the day with a standard issue whistle and stopwatch around his neck, we are wasting his time. Checking his watch 15 minutes into the meeting we are not confident he understands, much less cares, but we need him to at least try to pretend because Phys. Ed. is so stressful for Sam. Choosing teams. Lining up in girl’s lines and boy’s lines. Changing clothes in a locker room that does not fit with the gender in which he identifies — all psychological mine fields for our child, who is not yet equipped to protect himself from emotional harm.
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