Caleb woke up really early this morning, came into our room, walked over to Jennifer’s side of the bed and said, “Mom, Mom, remember?” To which Jennifer replied, “Uuuuuuh….yea honey….give me a sec.” She got up and they disappeared.
Twenty minutes later after I rolled out of bed, shaved, got dressed and went into the living room. There I saw my son with scissors and permanent marker in hand. He was sitting next to our green micro-fleece blanket…well, part of it anyhow. The other parts were spread all over the floor. I gave Jennifer a knowing nod with my eyebrows raised in a question. She looked back at me with the look that said, “Don’t say a word.” Though our nice warm blanket was shredded, I listened and kept my mouth shut.
It was then that I saw our blanket’s new shape. On the carpet in our living room was a giant green heart. In the middle sat Caleb, leaning over writing. I read his words. He was writing messages of thanks and love to his first-grade teacher, Mrs. Hoffmore, on the green heart-blanket that used to keep us warm. Today was his teacher’s last day in his classroom and they were having a party for her. This was his gift. The cool thing is, he thought of the idea himself.
So, we are short one blanket.
But Mrs. Hoffmore now has a gift that will warm her in more than one way.
Roger Hoffmore said,
January 6, 2008 at 1:05 am
Jeromy,
I just stumbled across this post doing a search for “Hoffmore”… it’s not a common name and I was curious what was out there. Wow – I’m glad I checked. Kath (Mrs. Hoffmore) was utterly blown away by Caleb’s gift (as was I) – and it sure is a treat to hear the full story! Frankly the story caused my eyes to well up – as did a few other stories on your site (I poked around a bit). I know that Kath misses Caleb and the rest of her old class. She wishes that she could have completed the year there. I will be sharing your post with Kath – I’m sure that she will enjoy it. I know that it wasn’t something that you probably expected us to find and read – but thank you. Blessings to you and your family.
Jeromy said,
January 6, 2008 at 1:33 am
Roger – So here is the thing…I don’t think I will ever tire of the ways in which people “stumble” across other people and their stories. It was a small world in 1965 when Disney created the ride, but the internet has made the world tiny. I am glad you were blessed by Caleb’s story…we were too. Caleb misses Kathy…in fact, we just read your comment to him and he wants me to say hi to her. So, “Hi Mrs. Hoffmore,” from Caleb.
Roger Hoffmore said,
January 6, 2008 at 3:00 am
Mrs. Hoffmore says “hi”, back.