Summer of 2014 and Layla was starting Kindergarten and I had much to do.
Teachers are on job action from back in June and carrying on into summer - it's August and by the end of the month I am to meet with her Teacher and Education Assistant to discuss gradual entry - to discuss this huge stage in her life and mine.
I am nervous and ready. But, school is closed, no teach to talk to and, well, looks like school isn't even going to start come September. For Maya who is 11 / G 6 and Sabrina 9 G4, this was pretty nice. No school until October!
Nothing happened, so my anxious wait for the start of school was milling in my head.
Nothing. And then there was something that would change everything....
The principal - Ms Taylor phones me and asks if she could come over and meet with Layla - I mean she already was familiar with her when I picked up the girls after school, she often met and greeted kid sister in the hallways. But this meeting was to talk about Kindergarten and the Layla Plan. Coming to my home was unorthodox but given the picket lines, I wasn't going to cross - nor was the wheelchair! She told me she was bringing Layla's potential EA. Ok, I said. What else would I do.
They came and met with me and Layla and we discussed. In theory this all sounded good. Little did I know that in a month and a half when school started, that Layla's entry into public school and the years following , would be hand in hand with an assistant who is even more special than Layla.
That fateful day in the Summer of 2014 Mrs. Cameron came into Layla's life and I tell you .... she is the best thing ever. And the world (or even only the 12 people reading this post) needs to know this. I sing her praises as Layla's Assistant, her pal, her care provider, her guide. My peace of mind.
And I sing her praises now, here in the post titled "The Best", because she is. The best - not because she is leaving the job, or because anything has happened - but just because she is.
