|
|
|
� |
|
So, today it rained axe heads and hammer handles while I was out ferrying MRI films from one hospital to another. Can't these guys set up a courier system? I'm sick of taking films from one hospital to another! (I've been to four different ones since April, and I'll be visiting the two left over in the near future.) Let me tell you about Tuesday. It was my last day of work for the school year, a teacher in-service day. Very boring. Lots of dusty, tiresome cleaning chores. Lengthy school law lecture given by a venerable gent who resembles a large Southern tortoise. At lunchtime, one of my former students and her best friend arrived to take me out . Now, all of my students become my "kids"to some degree, but there are a few every year with whom I really bond. They keep in touch, and are in many ways the children I'll never have. I know their own moms and dads did the hard stuff, but I got to mother them a bit at a time in their lives when they were genetically programmed to resist parental influence. Kelly is one of my all-time favorite students. She was shy and reserved when I taught her, but had a wicked sense of humor and a sharp tongue. She's now a graceful, green-eyed 28-year-old woman, teaching inner-city kids in the Midwest, and active in the SCA. She calls me her "inspiration" and makes me cry. I am so proud of her, and I'm even prouder to call her my friend. Going to lunch with Kelly and Kelli (her buddy, also a teacher) rekindled my desire to teach. There, in front of me, was proof that it was worthwhile. In a year where I've been made to feel expendable and worthless, I needed to be reminded of why I do what I do, and who it's for. It's not about the administrators. It's ALL about the KIDS. At my school, we lost ten superb teachers this year. Some of them retired, but most just left. My friend Don, one of the finest educators I know, burned out so completely teaching emotionally disturbed kids that I don't think he'd survive another year. We all wept when he said goodbye. Often, he was the only person who cared about his kids. I know that as long as Kelly (and all my other "children") remind me why I'm here, I can keep going. Now, time to go see Hulk at midnight! Cait SMASH! RWArrrrr!
|
 
|
Kelly