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A TIE TO A MEMORY
I smiled as I ran across this old red tie in my closet the other day…
because in my hands was the reason why…
when I was teaching autistic students…I never wore a tie.
“You should wear a tie to work.” My principal said to me one day…
I responded that with my students I thought a tie would get in the way.
“Still, I think you should try it.” He said with a condescending smirk.
So that night I went out, bought this tie, and wore it the next day to work.
Jackie was a beautiful young girl…caught under Autism’s spell…
and to make matters worse…she was prone to seizures as well.
You learn to detect a seizure…moments before it happens…
to pick up on signs that, to some, may seem small.
It gives you time to run to them and help to break their fall.
I knew Jackie was about to seizure…I could see that glazed look in her eye…
as I caught her and her seizure started…she grabbed on to my tie.
Of course she had no control over her hands…she grabbed my tie involuntarily
which meant as I was trying to comfort her…she was inadvertently choking me.
With every throe of her seizure…which was not going as I had planned
as her arms flailed in all directions…my head was following her hand.
The seizure ran it’s course…and as you might assume…
With Jackie resting comfortably…I threw my tie across the room.
I keep this tie as a reminder…
of Jackie’s smile…
of a time in teaching when
we both survived her seizure…
And why…I never wore a tie to work again.
