“Why do you want to teach? You know they don’t make much money?” “Why would you ever want to be a foster parent? You’re so young, you’ll change your mind.” “I couldn’t do it, I’d get attached” “Are you sure you want to take on that kind of responsibility just because your friend is having a baby?” “Special education? Are you sure...?”

Everyone always has something bad to say about the generation following them, or more often than not their children’s children. I’ve had people thank me for being brave enough to pursue special education. I’ve had people shake their heads and say “you’ll burn out so quick, honey.” when I tell them I cannot wait to walk into my own classroom. I’ve had social workers tell me being a foster parent was the worst decision I could make. I’ve had doctors tell me having a child of my own would be so hard on my body, it won’t be worth it.

I cannot wait until my goddaughter is born. I cannot wait to turn 24 and open my home to kids who need it. I would much rather know that they can eat, sleep and go to school than be thrown in a group home and forgotten about. I cannot wait until I am blessed enough to be a mother, to have a child that is the absolute perfect combination of me and his father and the most amazing soul. I'm going to cry in a year when I have my classroom. I'm going to fall in love with 28 8-year-olds and do everything I can to make them love me just as much.

I know kids suck sometimes and I know life sucks and I know they're not always angels who want to learn or behave or do what we want/expect them to do. But that's half the adventure. There is so much to a kid that so many people overlook.

They are beautiful, amazing, unfinished works of art. Honestly, they're just clay, willing to mold to whatever their environment holds, chameleons ready to adapt. They can't make every choice yet. I still can't make every choice for myself but all they need is someone to show them what they can be, what they can do and they can take over the world.

I hate people who say they have no faith in the next generation because that just means they're too lazy to make these kids better than they are. They'd rather sit and complain.

But I cannot wait. I cannot wait until I am standing in front of these amazing souls teaching them that if you just follow the nines all the way down it's 0-9 going down and then 9-0 coming back up and I have to find some way to make that click in all of their heads. I cannot wait for my first student to prove a whole faculty wrong and prove they are more than their disability. I cannot wait until I hear “Ms. Lexie, I think I got it.” I look down to see their name written for the first time without my help.

I cannot wait until I get to hold my goddaughter and tell her how loved she is while I hold her for the first time. I cannot wait to give her what I never got as a child, to show her how many people love her and will be there for her no matter what. I cannot wait to give her all the kisses and car rides in the world. I cannot wait to take her to her first wrestling show and to chase her around the house while me and her mom fight over what she should wear on her first day of school.

I cannot wait for the first sleepless night because my foster kid has been through too much, seen too much and doesn't want to sit by themselves. I cannot wait to see a child realize for the first time in who knows how long, they are safe. I cannot wait to see silent nods & mumbles turned into giant smiles and eruption of giggles. It’s okay if they’re not mine forever, at least I know I’ll have given them something they may not have gotten elsewhere: love, attention, understanding, a bed all their own, homework help and clothes to wear.

I cannot wait until I get to hold this tiny person that I went through hell to create & he decides that 4:00 a.m. is the perfect time to wake mommy up bc it's too early for her to be up but too late for her to go back to sleep. I cannot wait to hear that cry for the first time and know that then and there my world will be complete. I cannot wait to raise a child in the most loving home, in a place that they can be expressive and loved, understood and cherished. I cannot wait until it’s Friday night and I’m grading papers at the kitchen table and I hear “Mommy, come play with me” and I can’t help but to smile and chase my mini down the hall where his dad is ready to swoop me up as soon as I turn the corner and we fall into the floor laughing together.

I cannot wait until I get to take all of this love in my heart and give to them. I know in my heart, in my soul, in every ounce of me that this is what I'm supposed to do. I cannot wait to impact so many lives and help as many as I can, to raise a family and show children they have somewhere safe, where they are sacred.

So please, keep telling me how tomorrow’s future isn’t looking so bright. Because I am going to do everything in my power to sprinkle a little light on it. When my kids find world peace or cure terminal illnesses while still preserving the Earth, I hope you get to see it.