end of 8th grade

Today is my son's last day of 8th grade.  Middle School has been rocky.  There were a few bright spots.  I received this email last year from my son's teacher.  I need to hold on to the positive.When you have a child who is different or has issues, you don't really receive much positive feedback. I had  one year that the only feedback I received was a behavior notebook with negative behaviors. Talk about feeling like a horrible parent and asking yourself every day why do I bother to send him. I have to say that at middle school and all the various behavior programs my son has been in, I consider these teachers awesome and amazing. I just wanted to share this positive email I received. Here is a portion of the email:

Heather,

C had such a great math class today.  He brought me to tears. After some math bingo with integers, Mr F started on his " number 9" speech. He tells them that no one is a perfect 10, but they are all a 9. He then moved into talking about his childhood, suffering from severe skin disease, and being put down by kids, picked last for baseball, etc. Some students wrote positive messages on the whiteboard/chalkboard, and C asked if he could erase a portion of the board and write a positive message. C wrote this, " Strength is not judged by your weight but by your heart." I don't know if he made that up or it was a quote that he's heard before. Additionally, he noticed he'd spelled weight incorrectly and corrected it. Mr F was in awe at the heartfelt message. The next part is what is so awesome: C then asked if he could move up front, sit in Mr F's stool, and tell everyone something. It was such "C" moment. I'll paraphrase what he said as I don't remember all the exact words. He said that none of us knows what we'll be in the future, but we are important and someone special. He explained that when he was at a certain school, he was made fun of, called names, and felt bad about himself but that it's improved since then. All the kids were in awe, as were Mr F and I.  .........Then Cody sat down and asked to sharpen his pencil. All in a day's work for C.

I don't know what the future holds for this child.  We just keep plugging along. We are about better living through adversity.