Sometimes kids can---just 'floor' you!

As a school counsellor, I have many moments of the ‘emotional kind. Sometimes it is the sad stories, but that is counterbalanced by another one that quite literally ‘floors’ one, in a way that adds interest and joy to the job. Take the other day, for example. I was talking to a young man about some issues, and right at the end of the session he made a comment that quite took me by surprise. I mean one does a small amount of self-sharing as part of the process, but this one took the cake, once I was call upon to answer a ‘question. ‘Sir,’ he asked---maybe tentatively or out of sheer curiosity---not sure, ‘are you shedding?’ What---I thought---am I losing my hair at such a rate that even a kid who hardly knows me notices? He pointed towards the back of my chair—at the white hairs, that seem to stay, no matter how much a try to get rid of them. You see---- they are not mine. I am not blond, neither am I going that way, having gone through the ‘salt and pepper’ stage of life (OK---- going through). I laughed and pointed to a picture on my wall---of Perdy, my crazy Jack Russell, who from time to time, graces my office as an ‘assistant.’ ‘It’s that girl,’ I explained, adding that she sometimes drops copious amounts of dog hair, especially in the summer. The young man went away with a glint in his eye. God knows what he was going to say about the ’visiting blond,’ I entertain in my office. Oh well---such is the nature of being a school counsellor---one never knows what will transpire in a ‘normal’ day. MMM---what the hell is that?! www.authorneilcoleman.com