Miles

Happy Birthday, Miles!

You know what? I can honestly remember Miles from way back when he was in first grade. He was in Mrs. Shearman's class, and I would go and visit her class while I had a student teacher and needed to be out of the room. I can't believe how much he has grown up since then. I can honestly say that for many people in this class, but it just seems like it was yesterday that I would visit that class.

Miles is such a great kid. He's one of those people with a very serious conscience. He came to me during teacher appreciation week and gave me the most sincere face-to-face thank you that had been well thought out and nearly brought a tear to my eye.

He was one of the kids that I could trust implicitly. Toward the end of the school year, I would send him and another student down to the fifth grade closet way down the hall to dig up some old microscope equipment that I knew was still down there, which I needed for this school year, which I wished I had used this past school year. But I knew I could send him down there and he wouldn't mess around and waste time.

He always gave me his best. Always. And when he didn't understand something, he made sure he learned how to do it. I remember this well in Math when he had questions about how to do certain problems, and especially when I watched it click in his brain why it's summer in Australia when it's winter in the U.S.

If you can judge a man by the company he keeps, then I think Miles is one of the greatest people around, because his friends are some of my favorite people from this past year. He's one of the future world-changers and problem solvers. He's one of the people who will mean the world to the few and quietly change the world in the process. He doesn't realize yet what I have realized about him since the beginning of the school year. That alone makes him awesome.

I really hope you have a fantastic birthday, buddy. You deserve it.