Chapter 13 - Mrs. Grayson Wrote Lily a Letter
It arrived nine months later.
Not through school.
Through attorneys.
I read it first because:
Lily was eight.
Mrs. Grayson wrote:
Lily, I believed I knew when you truly needed your inhaler and when you were using it because you felt anxious or wanted to leave an activity.
Then:
That belief was wrong.
Good.
I was told that your medical plan required immediate access, and I chose to substitute my judgment for that plan.
Better.
Then:
You told me you could not breathe. I should have helped you. Instead I made you prove how sick you were before I responded. A child should never have to become more ill to be believed.
I stopped reading.
Cried.
Later I asked Lily:
“Do you want to read something from Mrs. Grayson?”
She thought.
“Is she coming back?”
“No.”
“Then okay.”
I read:
selected parts
with her therapist’s guidance.
Lily listened.
Then:
“Is she sorry?”
“Yes.”
“Do I have to forgive her?”
“No.”
She nodded.
Then:
“I kind of do.”
“Okay.”
“But I don’t want her to be my teacher.”
“That is extremely reasonable.”
She laughed.
We never wrote back.
Forgiveness does not always require:
May you like
correspondence.
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