Mrs. Landau restored hope...

About fifteen years after I graduated high school, 

I wanted to let a teacher know who came to my rescue at age thirteen when I needed someone the most, the impact her kindness had on my life then.  She was still teaching so I left my name and number with the office.

Almost immediately Mrs. Landau called.

"Oh my gosh, Adelaide!  You have no idea how excited 

I am you called!  I have thought of you so often.  You were like a little sister to my sons, and they often fondly remember when you stayed with us.  So do I."

"Wow Mrs. Landau!  I'm thrilled I could find you!  I've never forgotten what you did for me.  I so wanted to be able to thank you, because you're one of the reasons why I am living an amazing journey."

She invited me to come to her home the following weekend for the first of several wonderful visits again prior to her passing.  I am so grateful I got to thank her.

By the time I slammed into adolescence, the violence, rejection, and ridicule I was living with had escalated with nowhere to turn.  For years I had already been an adult living in a kid's body, as I wrote about in my blog piece "The Meadows Orphanage," where I often stayed between the ages of nine to twelve.  My dear friends there were also adults in kids bodies.  Since we never really got to BE kids by what we had to endure is why we were already adults in kids bodies.  We had to be in order to survive the awful situations our adults kept 

us in.  

Sadly when the state closed The Meadows my friends were all sent far away to foster homes.  After we were separated forever something broke within me.  I was still strong, still pressed on, yet something within shattered.

My first poem at age thirteen says it all:

Where there is hope left to be found,

The sun will shine big and round,

Yet when the light of hope dies out,

Nothing is left but shadows of doubt.

Again I was amazingly blessed with a person there for me when I needed someone most, my English teacher Mrs. Landau.  She was not only deeply moved by the poem I wrote for her assignment, but moved to reach out to a child who clearly needed someone.  An adult in a kid's body whose hope had waned.

Mrs. Landau not only embraced me with loving support, but had me come stay with her family on weekends.  What her loving presence and wisdom gave me were the ways to become strong at my broken places.  Most of all she restored my hope.  From there my innate sense of positivity was reignited again.  Her nurturing restored my innate sense of being outgoing again too. 

I can never begin to adequately convey what the power of having an adult like her in my life then whose love and believing in me did for me.  

As I have shared here before, despite being a Little Person, despite my awful childhood, for this very challenging journey of mine I came packaged with an indomitable spirit, determination in spades, and an innate sense of positivity.  Mrs. Landau powerfully reignited all of these.

All it took was this one adult who reached out to a terrified kid forced to live with violence and horrendous challenges without the security and acceptance of loving parents.  And because of this one adult who showed love and acceptance, THIS adult living in a 

kid's body back then...made it through...soaring.