Every Rose Has Its Thorn

Roses = the good things that have happened in your life for the past day/week/month/etc. Thorns = the bad.

My roses and thorns for the first day of second semester..

Rose:
My kid who was in court and facing time in juvy was back in school today.. which means the judge must have gone easy on him or something. You could totally just see it on his face that he was so happy to be back in school. A kind of glow almost (I'm sure I didn't just imagine it!) He came in after school to make up his finals, which he has been doing all day. He's got a good student in him somewhere, maybe this was his wake-up call. As he was making up his final he asked me questions when he didn't understand and tried really hard, and pulled a C (which is VERY GOOD compared to his slacker buddies). I'm looking forward to this semester with him.

Thorn:
Found out last night that one of my students was shot on Saturday night. Something about an adult trying to rob someone in the house. I haven't dug around for the whole story, but can you imagine? He's freaking 17 years old, a senior in high school. I went to visit him in the hospital after school today. He looks as good as you can look after being shot in the stomach with a bullet going through your colon and kidney (or was it liver?) Thankfully the operation went well and he's expected to fully recover. But it was actually some kind of amazing to see how resilient these kids are.. when I was visiting his nurse(?) came by to see if he wanted to try walking between her and another nurse. He asked if they had a walker he could use because he wanted to use his own strength to walk, not rely on them to hold him up. Trooper.

That being said, I sincerely hope you, my readers, will never have to visit a 17 year-old in the hospital because of a gun shot wound. There's just something so broken with this world when an adult shoots a child in his own home. It took all the strength I had to not break down and cry in the elevator as I left the hospital. And tonight I fully plan on spending some time w/ Mr. Haagen Daaz and Mr. Bailey's Irish Cream.. because it's just one of those nights.