When I went to the dining hall to grab some lunch first, I met one of the students who just grabbed lunch and was about to go to the library for our meeting. She sheepishly asked me, "Does my Mom have to come, too?" To which I replied, "Of course. All parents should come." She then said, "Well, she says she's not coming."
"Uh oh," I thought. "What happened? Why wouldn't she come?" So I approached her in the dining hall and just casually asked, "Are you coming to the meeting?" She then looked at me and was very emotional. She said that she's mad at her daughter and that she cannot come to the meeting. I could tell that she was very emotional and I had to pick my words wisely. I wasn't sure what to say, but words came out of my mouth because I had to say something. I told her that even though she's mad at her daughter, she's not mad at me or at the class. I told her I really need her to be at this meeting so I can get her buy-in and support. it won't be longer than 15 minutes, I promised.
To my great relief, she paused and then told me she just needs 5 minutes and she'll join us at the meeting.
During the meeting, she told me that she thought I handled the situation very professionally and said the right things to convince her to come to the meeting. However, I'm as surprised as anyone else for having convinced her to come so successfully. I could easily imagine an alternate ending to the conversation. One that ends in self-fulfilling prophecy of her becoming mad at me right after I told her she's not mad at me.
So I'm so thankful God put those words in my mouth because He knew she can accept them. I'm just so thankful we were able to have our first Senior Class meeting and everyone can be aligned on the class goals.