Student Files: Celeste

Simple, quiet, shy, approval-seeking.

Celeste looks like a little angel. She sits quietly, observing the antics of her classmates, usually with a shy little smile playing on her lips. Her dark eyes don't miss much. As the year passed I watched her interact more and more.

I'll never forget one morning....

I walked into class, having dared God to show me that he was somewhere in this mundane, tiring routine.

Celeste showed up at my side on that bright, warm morning. I can still see her beaming face in the morning sunlight that shone through the doorway.

"Miss! My mom will have a baby!"

Next thing I knew, she grabbed me around the waist with stronger arms than I'd anticipated. And she didn't let go! I stood there and held her, trying to ask more questions--"Is it a boy or a girl?" "When will the baby be born?" She either shook her head, shrugged her shoulders, and gave me that I-don't-understand-that-word-in-English look. Only her HUGE smile stayed in place. I finally gave up, grinning in return. And I hugged her back.