He Needed Courage

I received my key from a friend. She had seen it at a shop while at a convention and she picked it up.. It was engraved with the word "COURAGE." She kept the key thinking it was unique and loving the story behind the keys. Then, in February of 2013, my mom passed away unexpectedly. My mom was everything to me. My friend brought me and my family a meal after we returned home from the funeral and that evening, she gave me the key. She knew I would need courage to make it through one of the most difficult times in my life. I held on to the key for a while. In May of 2014, the day before graduation (I was a high school teacher at the time) and a week before my family and I were to move out of state, a tragedy struck our small town. A local pastor, his wife, and other family members were traveling from Colorado to Wyoming pulling a camper for vacation in Yellowstone. A terrible accident happened leaving his wife (an older sister to one of my students) dead. Before I moved I passed the key on to my student, knowing this would be a time he needed courage.