"Take a Deep Breath"

A week ago my favorite kid got moved out of my house at work.  T is such a good kid.  He has his own set of challenges and set backs, but he's so eager to please and to improve.  On one occasion we had a fight over using mouthwash.  We had just gotten these dental hygiene tracking sheets which makes it seem like flossing and using mouthwash every day are no longer optional.  I told him he'd have to start doing at least one of the two things every day, in addition to brushing his teeth.  He completely stonewalled me.  A week later he was finishing brushing his teeth, pulled out his mouthwash, started swishing it around and got my attention with the biggest smile he could muster with his mouth full.  It seems like such a little thing, to independently use mouthwash.  But I will fight his higher functioning roommate for days to get him to do laundry.  T and I would have one argument about something and never revisit it again.  And then he would independently start doing it because he had been asked to do so. 

He has such a sweet heart.  My most memorable moment with him was December of 2012.  He had put his Christmas decorations up in his room, including an angel playing a violin.  I pointed to her and asked him who it was.  He responded with, "I don't know.  Maybe God?"  It made me want to sob.  His family is little crazy and taught him so many bad things, and here he was telling me that God could be in a female form. 

He's also the funniest kid I know.  One time we went on a walk with his roommates and one of them got mud on his leg.  I hollered at his roommate that he had "crap on his leg."  T heard me and tapped his roommate on the shoulder, and then whispered loudly to him that he "had poop on his leg."  He also showed me his Muscle Man dance move that night, where he rubs his chest pretending he has boobs.  He would often say to me (even a year later): "remember when G had poop on his leg?  And Josh (his favorite staff) touched a dead fish?  Jessica, you remember that?" 

A few short hours into Thanksgiving dinner this past year my mom leaned over to me and said "I understand why he's your favorite."  He's everyone's favorite.  Having him move broke me a little bit.  And it makes me so mad at his roommate for causing problems that made him have to switch houses. 

The night T was leaving I kept looking out the windows for the moving truck.  When I saw it I started to get a little anxious and started breathing heavily.  T looked at me, and in a very clear voice and with firm hand movements said "take a deep breath, count to ten." 

Sometimes that kid knows exactly what to say.