This time last year every time my phone rang or chimed and I saw it was from Augie’s school, my stomach would drop. It was always to let me know about a negative behavior, what he wasn’t doing that he should be doing or was doing that he shouldn’t. Frankly, the first half of last year was traumatizing for Augie, Josh and me. If I could go back, I would do things differently AND I know I was doing the best I could with what I knew and had access to at the time. Today when my phone chimed with a text message from Augie’s teacher my body, which is still not fully recovered from last year, went on high alert and I thought, “oh no!” To my delight I received this sweet video and a message from his teacher that said, “💯 on an Accelerated Reading quiz.” I pushed play on the video and cried. Not because he got 100 on his AR test, yes we will celebrate that, but because he felt safe enough, welcomed enough, embraced enough to attempt something he may fail at. What you can’t see, because I cropped it out for privacy reasons, is the celebration of his classmates behind him. He found belonging. I cannot adequately put into words how good and healing this if for our hearts. Whew! Happy Friday y’all! #everyonebelongs #augustryker #theluckyfew #inclusion #inclusionforall