Thanksgiving has come and gone...

At Thanksgiving time, we made a bulletin board outside our classroom that was entitled We Are Thankful For and then the children wrote a number of things that they were thankful for. One of the submissions was Mason. Although he is not in the class any more and a new child has joined our class in his stead, we are thankful that we had the chance to know Mason and have him in our lives. Thanks for the memories, Mason.

Almost a month has gone by...

It has been almost a month since Mason passed away. We still have his little Spiderman couch in the class and the children love to cuddle up on it. We think of Mason frequently and we miss him.

Mason was a member of our class for a little over a year. During that year, we saw him courageously fighting to beat his cancer. Much of the time he was only able to come to school some days and for an abbreviated time. Often he would only be at school for an hour or two. During those times, however, he was able to be a normal school kid and live life like other kids. That was the point, to provide him with a normal school experience and have him be defined by something other than his cancer.

I believe that God brought his family to me. My wife had died of breast cancer a year before Mason joined my class and I was still grieving her loss when Mason joined my class. I felt at that point that I was the perfect choice for a teacher for him as I understand the fight he was going to be going through and had an inkling of what his parents were facing. I had helped Anne through the operations, the chemo and the radiation. During the year that he was in the class, there were times when he was very tired and feeling sick from his treatments, but he wanted to be at school anyway. Danielle would sometimes bring him in and pass him over to me and he would just settle into my shoulder and I would hold him till he felt ready to get up and interact in the class. The children were always very happy to see him and he loved school.

It's now been a little over two years since my wife died and I feel that helping Mason and his family go through this experience and being there till the end has helped me come to fuller closure on my wife's passing.

Did you know Mason?

I created this blog to write about the experience of having Mason share my life for a little over a year. It also is a place for people to comment about the memories you have of Mason. The other children in the class have begun to share memories about Mason and I am including those in these postings. I conceive of this as a companion to the blog Kirk and Danielle made to chronicle his fight against cancer which, by definition, is about his illness and eventually his death. I would like this to be about his life. He shouldn't be defined by his cancer. I am encouraging everyone who knew him to share memories in the comments. I think he was a wonderful person and he will always be in my heart. I invite others to share their memories of Mason. Click on the comments and become part of the tribute.

If you don't have a google account, you will be asked to create one. It is fairly easy and free to sign up for an account. Alternatively, you could start your own blog of some sort and then you could log on that way.

Today we made a poster that said we love you, Mason

This morning the children made a poster that said We Love You, Mason and We Miss You. I explained to the children that we were going to give this to Mason's parents and maybe it would help his parents feel better. We decorated the poster with flowers and a butterfly chasing a soccer ball and then all the children signed it.

Mason's classmates share memories...

Today in class we read the story Gentle Willow by Joyce C. Mills. In the story Gentle Willow gets sick although all her friends want her to get better and in the end, she dies. Her friends are told that Gentle Willow had been giving them gifts all the time they knew her. The gifts were the memories that they still have of her after she is gone. I asked the children what memories they had of Mason. Joshua remembers going to the D.C. United game for Mason's birthday. "I was playing with him and eating all the candy with Mason!" Ashley remembers playing with Mason at the park and running with him. Sofia lived near Mason in Equador and knew him before he got sick. After he got cancer, Mason came to the United States to get new medicine. She remembers playing with Mason in Equador before he got sick. Hudson played soccer on Mason's soccer team and he went to play soccer at Mason's house too. Hudson remembers the soccer ball that Mason got with all the soccer rules written on it. Josh said he played by Mason on the soccer team.

Mason loved to work

I have a folder of work that Mason brought in one Monday morning and gave to me. He had worked on several items of homework over the weekend and wanted me to see his work. I was suitably impressed and complimented him. He was doing extremely well in school which reflected his determination and the love he was obviously receiving at home. He missed so much school over the year that he was in my class, only his drive and the support of people who loved him would have produced the capable and confident kid that we knew in class.

Mason was sooooo happy.

On Thursday morning Mason made it to school and sat on his mom's lap for 30 or 40 minutes during our morning gathering. When it came time to do the calendar, I asked "Who can tell me what today is?" as we do every morning. Mason's hand shot up and I called on him. After answering that it was Thursday, October 12th., 2007, he was helped by Danielle up to the calendar so he could put up the card for the day of the month and he also updated the weekly calendar in Spanish. He was shaky, but very happy. His dad e-mailed me later that Mason was sooooooo happy to have done the calendar. I'm so glad that he had that bright point of happiness in his life just 2 days before he passed away.

Mason loved to sing.

He loved it when I played the guitar and led all the children in singing. One of our favorite songs was This Little Light Of Mine. I can still see and hear him singing:

This little light of mine
I'm gonna let it shine.
This little light of mine
I'm gonna let it shine.
This little light of mine
I'm gonna let it shine,
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Mason let his light be a beacon for all to see.

Mason is released

I spent Saturday evening at Mason's house. I think Mason was waiting for his brother Mateo to come home from a soccer game before he would let go. Mateo came home and said hi. Around 10:30 I told Mason I loved him and said goodbye and I left at 10:38. He left shortly after that at 10:52. I guess Mason thought he should get going because he might miss recess.

Mason's time is drawing near

Mason asked his mom a couple of months ago what would happen if the new treatment they were trying didn't work. Danielle said that then he would join his grandfather in heaven. What a world we live in, a five year old contemplating his own mortality!