In Honor of my Nephew Sam Knopf!

This is my nephew and one of my heroes Sam Knopf! Read below the email i received from his mom today! I just had to share just how brave Sam is.

Yesterday afternoon I got a phone call from Sam's teacher, Mrs. Lee. She said, "Before Sam comes home on the bus I want to warn you about what happened today." Okay, there are certain phrases mothers never want to hear. In addition to what I heard yesterday, there is also "Mrs. Knopf, your son has been in a accident," "Mom, was that vase on the table expensive," and "Ma'am, does your son own a BB gun?" So back to yesterday. Mrs Lee went on to say, "Sam was involved in a fight." By "fight" she quickly informed me that she meant Sam had been beaten up. As a parent, you want your child to fight back and k.o. the kid with one sucker punch to the jaw. But having a husband as a teacher, I know that if my son hits back he has to suffer the same consequences as the kid who delivered the first blow. So my first question was, "Did Sam hit back?" Mrs. Lee gasped as if to say "how could you think such a thing of him" and said, "No, he did not!"Once I had established Sam's innocence, I picture him coming home battered and bruised, so I was ready to lay into the kid that did this to him. I asked who it was. Dakota. Oh yes, Dakota. That didn't surprise me. He is in 2nd grade also and has always been emotionally impulsive. He's got issues to say the least. Sam says he tells all the kids he's a werewolf and then gets very angry when they don't believe him. I have no idea what his parents are like since they're the type that don't show up to anything. It's very sad really!Apparently, Sam was defending a girl's honor. Dakota was chasing her on the playground and "bothering" her. Sam likes this little girl. Her name is Kate. Sam told Dakota to stop bothering Kate. Dakota didn't stop. Sam told him to stop again. Dakota told Sam to "Shut up." Sam got angry and yelled at Dakota to "STOP BOTHERING KATE!" Dakota kicked Sam in the shin and punched him twice in the stomach. I must say that I was happy he was punched in the stomach than the face - seems more tolerable to me. Kate ran to tell the teacher immediately since her boyfriend had just been beaten up. Sam lay there in a heap of tears. Dakota ran behind a tree. Little coward.Mrs. Lee said she talked with both boys and eventually they shook hands. She said Sam was very upset and cried for a while - my poor baby. On the bus ride home, big brother Alec in 5th grade, told Dakota he better never lay a finger on his brother again. Ahhhh, real justice! Go Alec! Go Alec!When both boys came home, being the wise mother that I am, I pretended I knew nothing. I was sure Sam would stumble into the house blurting out every detail. He actually said NOTHING and went straight to the snack cabinet. So, being the nosy mother that I am, I said, "How was school today?" He said, "Fine, except now I really don't like Dakota cuz he punched and kicked me." He then proceeded to tell me the whole story. We ended the saga by praying for Dakota's happiness because happy children do NOT punch and kick other kids. After the prayer Sam said very quietly, "Now I'm gonna kill him." Ahhh, real life. Ain't it sweet?! Takes ya back to those 2nd grade days when everything was about fairness. Now you're lucky if you actually get the parking spot you've been waiting 10 minutes for before the soccer mom whips out of nowhere in her Escalade to take it. I'll pray for her happiness too, cuz happy moms don't take other mom's parking spaces and then I'll resist the urge to want to quietly want to kill her.

Love to all,

Niki
Namaste