I kept those words in a special place, as a sign of a prophecy that would hopefully come true

MY daughter was in eighth grade, the year when there’s a lot of fun, games, and camaraderie.

It was also the year that my daughter went down, and it seemed there was no way back.

We realized that her going to a high school in our “in-the-box” area wasn’t going to work for her, nor for the school, so we planned to send her to a small out-of-town high school the next year instead.

She was feeling so out of sorts, though, she left elementary school Pesach time. I’ll never forget her teacher saying to me, “It’s such a shame. She’s been in school for all the hard parts, now she’s going to be missing out on all the fun parts.”

But there was no way to convince her to go back.

This teacher parted with these poignant words that I’d carry close to my heart over the next challenging years: “Hazorim b’dimah, b’rinah yiktzoru — With tears you will sow, and with joy you will reap.”