Beauty exemplified

Once in a while, something comes along that is truly rewarding. Not monetarily, of course.  Just from someone who truly appreciates what has happened.  I got to witness this moment a day ago.

The woman described her childhood.  It had been traumatic.  It had a number of players and was spread across two different countries.  It robbed her of her childhood, which included her schooling.  The woman had dropped out after her 8th grade year.

As an adult the woman did what adults do - she married, bore children, and eeked out a living to survive.  But life was rough still.  A traumatic childhood turned into a nightmarish adulthood.  Finally, she divorced and continued to provide for her children.

Deep inside of her was a growing hunger.  Every passing year she understood more fully that she had missed out on an education.  It had stymied chances she had for getting a good job because in her eyes the worst thing had happened.  She couldn't mask her lack of education because she had no spelling skills at all.  She had blacked out the little bit of learning she remembered from her devastating childhood.  Not being able to spell was a notice to the world that she was marked as being ignorant, even "special ed."

She went on a 20 year odyssey trying to find a remedy for this handicap.  She tried teaching herself to read, going to her middle child's junior high teachers for help, even presenting herself to a university's education department to get suggestions for her great hunger, the hole in her heart, her badge of ignorance.  The junior high teachers referred her to a dyslexia teacher and a special education teacher to learn some techniques for spelling such as spelling in the air and in sand.  The university told her she missed third grade level material, so she bought those books to make it up.  None of these efforts led to her success.

To her great credit, the woman never gave up.  She was determined beyond normal hunger to fill the void in her life, to erase the signs that she couldn't make it in life like everyone else.

So, imagine the moment after an hour in counseling and another hour working with a basic phonic technique.  Suddenly, like a film being removed from a blind person's eyes, the woman, now 52 years old, was taking dictated words and spelling each of them correctly... on her own... with no preparation.  It was beyond rewarding.  That moment released 45 years of developing and pent up emotion.  Tears flowed freely down her cheeks in disbelief that she had just spelled 40 words on her own, flawlessly.  Remarkable.  Incredible,   Breathtaking.  There were just no words at that moment - just raw reward - for teacher and student alike.