By Courtney Crain

Editor’s note: Courtney Crain of Beaumont recently submitted this column to The Port Arthur News. We thought it exemplified the meaning of this holiday season so we are presenting it to our readers on Christmas Eve.

• • •

At the age of 10, I went through the unexpected loss of my mother. Her death loosed emotions that I sometimes could not ignore. Losing her left me feeling lost and in a daze, but in the sixth grade, something happened to change me.

It was time for our annual Junior High cheer tryouts and I was beyond excited. I remember sitting in my second-period class when a disembodied voice on the intercom called me to the administrative office. Then, something rather odd happened. My fourth-grade teacher stood waiting for me outside the office. When I walked up to her, she gave me a hug, and whispered, “Let’s go get you ready for cheer tryouts!”

Confused, I took her hand and went along with her out to the parking lot, into her car. We made it to every store in Beaumont that day searching for the perfect attire. We laughed and made silly jokes. I tried on every pair of shorts, every matching tee shirt, every pair of shoes she offered. For the first time in a long time, I was truly smiling. She was so lovely and kind and caring. That day was the start of something wonderfully inexplicable, something I felt only God Himself could have put together.

When she brought me home, I said, “This has been the best day ever.” It was the unabashed truth.

She spoke no words, but indeed, her smile had said it all.

It was not long after that shopping spree that I found out about my fourth-grade teacher and my father. They had been dating, but in my naivety, I had never guessed it.

July of 2011, my father married my teacher. My new-found friend became my mother. What is more, she brought along her two rambunctious boys, little brothers I never knew I wanted until I had them every day to love.

My new mother is everything I needed and more than I had hoped to have. She is strong and compassionate, loving and tender, faithful and smart. She is my shoulder to cry on, and the one I run to when I am in need of a good laugh. Blood is thicker than water, but it is not as thick as love. My Fourth Grade teacher fell in love with my father. She became my mother. Her sons became my brothers. The five of us became a family, and, ever since, our love has overflowed our hearts.