Have you ever had a student p away? A bit morbid, I know, but it has been on my mind a lot lately.?

Well, yes, I had a student die. I was a Special Education Teacher and had grades 7-12, so I had the same students for 6 years, plus whoever came in new each year from some other school. There were a set of twin boys I had for 3 or 4 years and I always felt a sort of kinship to all my students because I had them for so many years, year after year, it was almost like adopted children, you know. I had two sons of my own, however, and was a single parent because of cirstances beyond our control which helped me to keep a perspective. One of these boys had hydrocephalus, with a shunt from his brain to where ever they put them, to drain excess fluid from his brain. They said that he would never reach adulthood, but this we ignore when they are yet teenagers. Well, one summer he died. I was pretty well devastated at this and felt terrible for his twin brother, wondering how he would deal with this. He dealt with it very well, thank goodness, and so did I mostly because he seemed to be o.k. with the death of his brother. This is one memory of my teaching experience I will always remember. I hope you do better than I. God bless..