Letter from high-needs student buried in teacher’s heart
By Mike Sawyer
Recently while reflecting on many notes from students from my favorite “high-needs” middle school where I am a substitute teacher, I discovered one that I had buried in my 68-year-old heart.
The 6th-grade boy’s random 2018 note goes, “Dear Mr. Mike, I wish you were my biological father because my biological father gave me to my mom like I was nothing and didn’t show up for 8 years. It’s like I was invisible and like I wasn’t even alive.” He signed the letter “from (Mr. Mike’s own son).”
“Happy Reconciliation Father’s Day, please,” from Mr. Mike, a fatherless son in 1964.
— Mike Sawyer
Denver
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