Dear Friends of Boundless:
One of our students, Dylan, who for reasons I do not fully understand allows me to use his real name, leaned over after a Stevening I ran last night on the topic of love and whispered,
“Only now do I realize what my parents sacrificed for me.”
I choked back a chuckle, knowing it took me at least until thirty to realize my parents were not utter morons.
“What could you possibly mean Dylan?”
“My parents moved to Canada. Just for me.”
He spoke in great depth about his love of family, one of four dimensions of love presented last night (the others being the Love of a Comrade; Best Friend Love; and Pair-Bond Love). He spoke of having to take care of his little brother. “I would lay down my life for him.”
And then something cracked open.
What had taken weeks to nurture the kids to climb out of their shells, all of a sudden crescendoed into a flood of revelation. The teachers were agog.
We heard about best friendships. And for some, an aching absence of them. We were bathed in stories about intense love of family. But also the pain of fractured attachments. Their clumsy and earnest attempts at pair-bonding were disarmingly tender. I was the most shocked at how far the kids took this.
Especially after a session like they just had. Or precisely because of the session they just had. Every once in a while, shit happens in clumps.
– Unprecedented cold left the students with a yearning to just cozy up inside while they had a cross-country ski race to prepare for and 20 digits to keep warm.
– All the while, Jimmy our English teacher is pummelling them with expectations and novels. He desperately wants them to succeed knowing full well that outside his class, the world relaxes its standards of literacy so the youth can be “accommodated.”
– We had to contend with some self-harming. We treat this as an existential threat to the school. This behavioural is apt to go viral in small groups. It subsided. I lost the three strands of hair I have left.
So, ya, the session was a toughie. The younglings endured. The staff endured. Any trace of hubris was buried in the fluffy snow. The students shall return home for break steadier, squarer, more solid than when they arrived. Their families may not quite recognize them.
Back to Dylan. Winter does not suit his genetic inheritance, though his body, rapidly turning effort into muscle, has not yet informed his brain of this fact.
But he did come back. He completed his 5k stint. Others on the Boundless ski team left us proud. Cole finished second overall. The event was called The Loppet, perhaps a Madawaska Valley attempt at claiming a copyright to a new Dr. Seuss character. The Boundless crew won the “Best Team” award. Admittedly, this is the”Aw, You Guys Are So Cute” medal. I’m good with it.
There are moments when I ponder the meaning and effort of it all. I suppose I’m a sucker for these teens. Yet my adoration for these cutie pies is dwarfed by my colleagues’ intense dedication to nurture their growth. I tip my hat to them.
Here’s to hoping for a smoother February session, maybe a few hours of above freezing temperatures, a brilliant history credit, and some cozy Krispy Kreme sessions that I shall use to personally take charge of their insulin resistance.
Warmly,
Steven
