HTC REEL Kids

One student from each school in our county is nominated for the HTC REEL Kids award. It’s an award given to a student who has faced or facing many obstacles in life, but has never let it determined who they were and their determination.

“Since 2001, HTC has conformed a local connection to the community by hosting the HTC REEL Kids program to honor students who may otherwise go unnoticed. These students are worthy of recognition for their outstanding leadership qualities that have helped them through special circumstances.”

REEL Kids simply stands for Recognizing Extraordinary Examples of Leadership.

One morning in April of this year, I was in the car rider line at school dropping the kids off. Once they were headed into school, the school counselor came over to the car. We proceeded with the usual “good morning,” then she ask me if I knew about HTC REEL Kids. I replied with, “yes ma’am.” That’s when she told me that my baby Tucker was nominated for this award. I was in complete shock. My first reaction was my mouth dropping, my hand covering my mouth, followed by me laughing and crying. I was full of mixed emotions. I didn’t know how to react to this.

This award is awarded to children that aren’t considered normal in today’s society. By not normal I mean, growing up with just one biological parent or none and depending on medication or some type of medical treatment throughout their life. It’s awarded to children, that despite what happened at home, how their bodies have let them down due to sickness or how bad they battled their inner self they still fought so hard not to let it interfere with their education.

My momma heart didn’t know how to take it. I was super proud of my baby because if anyone needed this award, it was him that needed that confirmation that someone sees him outside of the home. And that they know he hasn’t had it easy, but they’re proud of him for pushing through no matter how hard it is. I was scared for him and my heart broke for him.

In May he had to do his interview.

Tucker was a nervous wreck. I did everything this momma could do to calm him down. It wasn’t that he was scared, because who are we kidding it’s Tucker Bass and he’s not scared of anything. He was nervous because he’s never opened up much about his daddy’s accident or death and here he was about to sit in front of a camera and talk about it for God only knows how many people to see. We knew that a part of Tucker that no one had seen was about to get a glimpse of him.

As I watched from behind the scenes of that interview, I was a crying hot mess, but I was proud. Proud of his determination and his strength. I knew I was doing my job right as his parent when he recognized to the world that God was his helper. That he couldn’t have made it this far if it wasn’t for God, but I knew I was also doing my job right when I seen my son step slam out of his comfort zone to talk about something so heartbreaking that done everything it could possibly do to him except take the very breath out of his body too.

“I wish he could still be here instead of being gone away from us.”