Two lives

Snapshot of a life #1:
We have (presumably) 2 baby doves, freshly hatched today.  I haven't glimpsed them yet, though I've been looking hard today.  I did get to sit beside the nest this afternoon and spend a while alternating between a book and watching Mama Dove feed the babes, from whom I could hear the very smallest of cooing sounds. 

While I'm not a "baby person," not one to go nutty over newly minted infants, I still greatly appreciate and am continually awed by the progression of and sudden understanding of new persons.  One moment the world is complete and the next there is a new presence, which will forever be a name, a body, a potential. 

Snapshot of a life #2:
A teacher friend/acquaintance of ours is devastatingly and suddenly diagnosed with a brain tumor.  While I did not have the luxury of teaching with this man for longer than a few months, I knew of him and about him for several years.  Like so many others who have been through his classroom or have worked alongside him, I think of him as an honest representation of all that is good in education. 

He is yet another representation of a person who has been touched by all that is unfair.  In my time with this school, I struggled with reading my co-workers, what my role was in the school dynamics and how I could or should approach others.  Tim, however, has always been a good memory of those rough months.  I remember two distinct conversations with him quite vividly not because of what we talked about (though I do remember that as well) but because of the acceptance with which he treated me.  I was not, somehow, an outsider to him trying to break through and find a place.  His conversations were seamless, which I suspect is true for all whom he comes in contact with. 

I heard of Team Strand 4 days ago at which time $6000 had been raised to help off set the cost of Tim's treatment goal of $97,000, which at the time seemed an insurmountable sum to crowd source.  As I write this, over $64,000 have been raised, including many many donations from former students.  Goosebumps.  What a perfect testimony to the power of an individual, one who embodies truth and the pursuit of good, one who treats others with purpose and acceptance.   

One moment his world was complete and the next, there was suddenly a new presence, which will forever have a name, a mass, a potential.