It never seems to fail. The one child who is the most challenging, the most difficult, the most frustrating, the most pull your hair out crazy making, is also the one child who will turn your heart to mush.

Just.
Like.
That.

This week I had the kids spend a little time each day thinking of friends in our class or in other classes that they feel they can work well with next year. I try my best to make sure that each child ends up with at least one name on their list (although that is not always possible due to a multitude of reasons). So, I am reading the papers last night as I think about possible placements and I come to the page written by my biggest challenge this year.

I am pretty sure that every gray hair I have gotten this year can be attributed to this one particular child. If you look really closely you can probably see this little's one name written at the base of each gray hair! To say that I have been challenged is really understating it. I used up my entire bag of tricks and then some working with this little one.

So, there I am reading these lists and when I get to this child's list, I see the expected names. All the students that I fully intend to separate this child from because they do not work well together! No surprise there!

But then whose name do I see at the bottom of the list with a big circle drawn around it making it stand out from the rest?

MINE!

My heart just went plffff!

Is there any greater compliment?

I have spent much of this year feeling like I was making zero progress creating a connection with this little one and seeing my name on that list has just reaffirmed for me all the reasons why I keep trying every day to reach each and every child...even the crazy making ones!