These tears were foreign, yet somehow expected.
He never thought he would be here.
He never thought he'd have such a special connection to a student,
But this boy was special.
So Very Special.
He was here though and he was handing him this Diploma and shaking his hand.
He was posing for a picture with the boy up on the stage as his mom took a picture, tears streaming down her face.
She called out and applauded and he could see all of the young boy's friends doing the same.
Cheering his name and waving their hands.
Excited and amazed and maybe a little ashamed that they felt that way-
But No one expected him to make it this far.
Even if it was only graduating high school, it was still amazing.
It was unexpected.
He was so powerful and so strong, so kind and generous,
and the English Teacher was proud to be his step-father.
Instead of letting go of his hand like he had with all the other students,
He pulled the boy in for a hug and smiled.
They stepped back and he saw the tears welling up in the boy's eyes.
Yellow tears, happy tears, unbelieving tears all mixing together to create a cacophony of elation.
They let out a laugh together before he moved onto the next student and the young man went to join his family and friends.
Shaking hands and getting hugs, share smiles and laughter.
Everyone had the same happy tears, the same smile, the same fluttering feeling in their stomachs.
When all the teens threw their caps off into the air, the teacher could only smile and clap in time with everyone else.
It had been a long four years but every single one of the kids here deserved everything they received here.
They had all toughed it out and made it and he thought-
This is what being a teacher is all about.
It's not about how many failures a teacher has; it's about how many children he helps succeed.
How many people he pushed and propelled into the next part of their life, into their futures.
A few yellow tears slide down his face, unchecked and unnoticed,
Joining all the others on the ground as everyone made for the after party in the gym and he searched out his family.