love

It's interesting how you can find love in unexpected places...

As we head into a day known for celebrating "love" I thought I'd share how I felt "loved" today. They are simple stories - nothing profound - but they are moments that made my heart leap with joy.

I help oversee a tutoring program where I work, working mostly with K5-5th grade. I love them all dearly, and they are some of the greatest kids in the world! Well, today, as I was getting out of my car and heading into work, I saw a group of these children who come to the Mission for a weekly bible study. One of the 5th graders - Q - cheerfully greeted me and came over to give me a hug. Now, you must realize, Q and I have a good relationship - we get along pretty well. But Q is somewhat of a tough kid, someone I never really imagined to be a hugger. Therefore, that hug meant more to me than most hugs. I felt so honored that he had given me one.

Story #2 that melts my heart... L is a 1st grader, and was not able to attend tutoring last semester. However, her mother figured out a way for her to attend this semester after L had been asking non-stop when she could return to tutoring. So, today was L's first day back. She approached me and said, "Miss Tory, I got to come back!" She had such excitement in her voice! I squatted down so that I was level with her and said, "We're so excited to have you back!'' She threw her arms around my neck and gave me a big hug. She said, "I'm so glad you're here!" and I whispered back to her, "I'm so glad YOU'RE here, L!" As we finished with our hug, she ended our interaction with, "I'm so glad we're ALL here!" Seriously... my heart was in one big puddle on the floor.

Story #3 - D was upset about something... I could see it in the way she carried herself, and that she didn't have her normal smiley demeanor. I asked her what was wrong, and she just covered up her face. I bent down so that I could better make eye contact with her, but she refused to let me see her face. Upon asking her a second time what was wrong, she just fell forward, and buried her head into my shoulder. I gave her a hug, and even though I knew she wouldn't tell me what was wrong, I tried to assure her things would be ok. I tried to spark a little interest by telling her we had a Valentine's craft to do... She seemed to perk up a little, but then just kinda fell back into me. I gave her one last hug, and told her we needed to head to her class. She seemed to be doing better, and was willing to join the rest of her class. While this wasn't the most endearing moment, I felt so priveleged to be the one she sort of let her guard down with. Even though she didn't tell me what was wrong, working through it together seemed to help.

The kids were overly affectionate today, and I was greeted with such great excitement by many of them. It made my heart so happy to see them today.

It's so cool to me that even though I don't have someone significant in my life to share this holiday with, even though I've been single for almost my entire life, and sometimes I want so badly to meet someone, fall in love, and get married... That God provides me with other ways of feeling loved and fulfilled. The kids I get to see every week - many that come from hurt and broken families - have so much love to give, it's unreal. Sometimes I'm amazed by them.

And today, they captured my heart!