11,699
That's how many views Adam's story had in 24 hours.
If you missed it, you can go back and view Day 1 here. But according to that number... it doesn't seem like many of you missed it! I mean... I can't even believe how many people shared the link, and how many have committed to participating this year. We have people doing #AdamsActs in India, Cambodia and Denmark!
It is amazing to see the outpouring of love and support, but also the enthusiasm and creativity many of you have shown in Days 1 and 2.
I should have had one of you
I pulled my act together in time to divide and conquer the evening's activities. Tom took the girls to ballet while I went to Parent Night at the school. This was where Day 2 went down.
My kids have terrific teachers and great schools. Every year we try to do something special for the teachers and the assistants in their classes for Christmas and at the end of the year. But, I always feel badly for the behind-the-scenes people who work just as hard to make the schools run. I make sure to develop relationships with the secretaries and the cafeteria attendants and the playground helpers... because they have thankless jobs and let's be honest, they probably get zero Christmas presents, but still I never feel like it's enough.
Adam was the type of kid who went out of his way to make people feel good about themselves. In the past couple of years, many of Adam's peers came out of the woodwork to share stories about how Adam looked out for others. One story involved Adam using some complicated wrestling move to restrain a bully who was picking on kids, or stopping in the hallway after a school dance to ask the super shy girl for one slow dance before the night was over. He made people feel seen, like they mattered.
So, I am in a flu-like zombie haze, with a tall stack of handwritten cards, wandering the hallways filled with parents. None of the other moms seemed to be sweating and/or nauseous, and definitely nobody was slipping (what appeared to be) love notes into the janitor's closet. I regretted the red envelopes when the principal walked past me as I was panic-shoving my stack of Valentines into the school nurse's mailbox. I don't know what came over me, but when I saw the principal approaching I felt like I was in trouble. (Perhaps this was because my last interaction with her was regarding my 6 year old son, a big fat lie, and a can of pepper spray that just materialized in his backpack, by no fault or foreknowledge of his own). So, like any normal adult woman, I threw my love letters like confetti and got outta there.
I am just praying that these notes of thanks and encouragement make it into the hands of the employees who feel the most overlooked and under-appreciated. It is only just now occurring to me that the principal probably feels both of those things after the way I behaved... but what can ya do? Maybe next time I see her, I will ask her to slow dance in the hallway. #AdamsActs
I had to share this one #AdamsActs from a stranger who found my post on Instagram and was inspired by Adam's life. The artist asked for me to choose a word that described Adam, and I believe the rocks will be left for strangers to find. I couldn't simply sum him up in a word, because he wasn't about himself... he was about everyone else. So I cheated and asked for two words.
