Spending time at Kings

Over the last month I have been spending a bit of time at Kings Meadows High School as I have been asked to take some photos to be used as promotional material for the school.

It's nice to be back in the school, but it has also been hard as I walk around and have so many memories of visiting Aaron at work. 

Aaron absolutely loved his job and when I walk around the school I think about all the different things he used to tell me about work and wish so much that he was there, telling me how busy he is.  I feel so sad to know that there are two grades now who didn't have him as a teacher and only the grade nines and tens really know who he was. 

The first photos I took were the grade tens taking part in the Leukaemia Foundation's World Greatest Shave last month.  Kobe came along with me and had lots of fun hanging out with the students, watching them get their heads shaved and legs and under arm waxed.  The whole time Kobe kept talking about the day that Aaron got his head shaved and kept asking 'why did he do that Mum!?'. 

Kobe was fascinated with the the boys getting their legs shaved and waxed and couldn't figure out why they were doing it, when it was obviously hurting.  He kept saying 'they should stop!'.

One of the boys got 'King' (for KMHS) shaved into his head before he got it all shaved off. 

Another time I spent a couple of hours taking photos in lots of different classes.   I got to go into Aaron's old office which felt strange but it was nice to see it again.  The boys and I would usually go there once a week after school. The boys would run in so excited to see him and would tell them all about their day at school and would check out all the stuff on his desk.  It was nice to see the 'Kingy Cup' up in the window above his old desk.
As well as taking photos for the school it was also lovely to be invited to come and speak to the Child Studies class about Noah, and what it's like to be the parent of a child who has a severe disability.  Kobe came along with me and sat so quietly the whole time (having the iPad with us helped :)  It was the first time that I had gone without Noah, as I have been doing it for the last five years or so and he always came along with me.

The teacher said that she just couldn't invite me to speak last year as it was too sad as Noah wasn't going to be there with me. I'm glad that she asked me again this year, as I love talking about Noah and our life with him.  It was different this year because I talked about when he passed away, and I hadn't had to do that before.  Before I would often be asked questions by the students about how he would pass away, as they knew his life expectancy wasn't long.  I was surprised that I felt quite strong while talking about it all, but felt really drained afterwards and had a good cry on the way home.   There were a few tears from some of the students at the end of my talk and it touched me that they were so affected by it.   I imagine it would've been hard for them to see photos of Aaron and Noah together.

A couple of weeks ago Kobe and I went and took a few photos at their swimming carnival.  Kobe kept yelling 'go green!!' as he knew that Tamar was Aaron's team. 

He had fun sitting with two of Aaron's best friends from work - Lel and Kristy.  Luckily they were cheering for Tamar too.

Thank you KMHS for allowing us to still be a part of the school community.  We are grateful that memories of Aaron and Noah lives on in the school.  It is nice to be able to spend time at a place that Aaron loved to be at.