Sometimes an event will change your entire perspective and outlook on life.
Sometimes a person will do the same.
For Arletha Sherman of Jacksonville, Florida...that’s exactly what happened and she believes it helped nourish her inner life.
Arletha drives the wheelchair-equipped bus for Sabal Palm Elementary School, chosen for that bus specifically because of her demeanor and training.
Internally, she was hurting.
She saw children hurting...she saw parents hurting.
She treated every child with the same warmth and attention to detail...but she needed a fresh perspective.
That perspective was when 5 year old Anna Hopson started school in pre-kindergarten.
Anna was born with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. It’s a progressive neuromuscular disorder which causes nerve damage in sufferers’ arms and legs.
And with Anna, it affects her heart as well.
Progressive as in it will get worse, her muscles...all her muscles...will continue to weaken.
But her attitude….her constant trips to the hospital, her many challenges....you wouldn’t know she had an illness if not for the wheelchair.
“The fact that she has so much going on in her life, but she's always happy... and she's always bubbly,” says Arletha “And she's always, 'Hey, Ms. Sherman!' And then we just started communicating.”
Interacting with Anna for two years changed Arletha.
And they became very close.
And Anna became her favorite part of the day.
"I mean, I may have a bad morning, but once I see her, it's different."
When she wasn’t at the bus stop one morning, she drove by Anna’s home and knocked on the door, checking to make sure that Anna was okay.
Anna’s mom Kathleen was touched, “She was concerned. Really concerned. She didn’t have to do that.”
In April, for Anna’s birthday, Arletha bought her a princess dress complete with a tiara and decorated the whole bus, strewn with streamers and a Happy Birthday banner to celebrate.
Cards, gifts, the whole nine yards.
"She's touched my heart. She never complains. She has the most beautiful smile and it inspired me to do something for her.
All she could do is take her hands up and look around and ask, 'Is this all for me?'
It was just so overwhelming.”
Then in July, she asked Kathleen if she could stop by the house for a moment.
She had something to ask them.
She was to be married.
And please, please….could Anna be the flower girl at her upcoming wedding?
Kathleen broke down.
She always wanted to see her daughter in a wedding.
Dancing with her dad.
“I want her to have as many experiences as she can.”
Such a gift.
I want to quickly show you some pictures from around the country.
In Augusta Wisconsin, on the first day of school, Axel Johnson, who has autism, was scared and crying.
The school bus driver, Isabel Lane, made sure he was comforted on the drive to school with words of encouragement and with loving human touch.
In Alvin, Texas, at Passmore Elementary, Kenlee Bellew-Shaw, who also has autism, was overwhelmed with the cafeteria noise, and laid on the ground huddled in her blanket.
Miss Esther, a custodian and a Dreamer who immigrated from Mexico, laid down next to Kenlee to comfort her.
In Salt Lake City, Utah, school bus driver and recent cancer survivor Tracy Dean has been braiding the hair of 11 year-old Isabella Pieri every single school day….for the two years since Isabella’s mother died of illness.
Writes GNN:
Their morning hair appointments do more than just give Isabella stylish hairdos for the school day...they give her confidence, validation, and a daily dose of tender love from a motherly woman.
Our ideological adversaries make the mistake of thinking that certain jobs are more ‘important’ than other jobs.
We know better.