Jermaine

There's a student at Hope named Jermaine. Jermaine is probably the most enthusiastic student I see all week, both at school and in private practice. In fact, his clapping was so enthusiastic that his teachers asked him to tap his knees instead, so that his peers weren't distracted during music therapy.

Jermaine absolutely loves music, and over the last two years I have made him countless CDs of my songs. He knows all of them by heart, and will often request the songs by name. Today he asked me to sing the song "I Will be Your Friend", which I hadn't sung or even thought about in months and months. But another student echoed his request, so I began singing the song. I got through the first verse, and then completely blanked on the second verse. Jermaine was there to save the day - he took over as lead singer, and belted out the second and third verses.

When the song was through, Jermaine raised his hand. I called on him. "Yes, Jermaine. Do you have a question?" (He will often ask me questions in between songs.) He replied, "Miss Rachel, you encourage my heart every time you sing."

Actually, it's the other way around...do I really need to explain why I love my job?