As many of you know, I substitute teach in the public school system. I do it because I love to teach, I love making a difference and because I can - since I set my own schedule, I can move things around to make room for a day of classes.

Every now and then I get the feeling that I was “supposed to be here at school”, and today was one of those days. I was at my son’s high school, so many of the students (including almost all of the football program) know me because of him. My fourth hour class was made up of many football players and one of them came in late and asked to talk to me.

We went out in the hallway and he said, “I’m sorry I was late to class, but I was in my ex-girlfriend’s class talking to her. She told me that she’s pregnant and I am the father. I don’t know what to do.”

Wow.

Wow because he wanted to talk to me about something like that, that he trusted me enough to talk to me about something like that.

Wow because he really wanted me to tell him what I thought. He really cared what my opinion of him was now with this news.

We talked for about 20 minutes - actually, it was mostly him talking and me listening. I asked him, “Who are you?” He looked at me puzzled, at first, but understood when I shared with him some of what I’ve been discussing here with all of you. I just told him, “Keep in mind the man you want to be, the man you are becoming and who he is - let him make the decisions you need to make now. Be that man as much as possible now and you’ll be happier with your decisions both now and in the future. Everyone makes mistakes - it’s how we handle those mistakes and move forward from them that determines the kind of life we live.”

Then this big, burly, hulk of a football player smiled, hugged me, and said, “Thanks, Ms. Harris. I’m glad you were here today.”