Mrs. Dover

We got some bad news on our way home from New Orleans. Griffin’s teacher from last year, Christie Dover passed away earlier that morning. My heart broke.

A couple of years ago she battled breast cancer for I believe the second time. The year she came back to teach was the year that Griff had her. He LOVED her. And he learned SO much from her. So did I, really. I will never forget the day that yearbooks got passed out. I was picking up the boys from school that day and when I do that I like to peek in on them and just chat with their teachers if I can. She told me that Griff had a little breakdown because he didn’t get a yearbook..with a smile on her face.(We alternate each year with G and P and only buy one yearbook per year..it was Peyton’s turn last year.) I told her that we only buy one and that I was sorry he acted that way. And she very promptly told me not to be sorry, that she had three kids and did the yearbook thing the same way. That I was doing the RIGHT thing. It felt so good to hear that from someone who had older kids than I do.

Anyway, the end of the year rolled around, it was around April. Josh called me when he picked up the boys from school one afternoon and told me that Ms. Dover told him that that day was her last day because she had Leukemia. She got the Leukemia from the breast cancer treatment. And that she started treatments like that next day. She told the kids all about it and when Griff got home we talked about it. He was sad but he was VERY confident she would “beat it”.

I was friends with her on Facebook so I kept a close watch on her :) And Griffin asks about her all the time. And sometimes he will tell me, “Tell Ms. Dover Hi on Facebook for me!!” He has the sweetest little tender heart.

She got better after all the treatments over the summer and then in November things started going downhill a little. I don’t know anymore details other than she’s gone now. :(

We still haven’t told Griffin. I can’t bring myself to just tell him. I’m going to wait until he asks me about her again and then just tell him. I just hope and pray that I have the right words. I know it’s going to be soon because he asks about her every couple of weeks and it’s been about that long :(