Daughter #3 arrived this afternoon for the Christmas weekend, along with her two basset hounds. Talk about a full house! As we were emptying her car, she shouted inside to me that there was a former student of mine outside, a girl named Angela.
I knew immediately who she meant and hurried out to greet her. It''s been many years since she sat in my Third Grade classroom, but she looked just the same to me. Only taller, all grown up and beautiful. She had driven by the house - goodness, she drives! - and had stopped just to say "hi".
I was absolutely thrilled to see her. She is now in college, in fact the same college daughter #2 graduated from, in the nursing program. She seems very happy, family is all well, and she is still in touch with a few of the other students in my class that year. She was surprised to hear I am a grandmother. (Could it be I look younger than I am? nah) She asked after daughter #3, who was in the upper grades at the school then and spent a lot of time with her during an after-school class I held.
As it happens, I also ran into the mother of a former student in the supermarket yesterday. He is now in high school. For a Boy Scout project, he has been collecting items to send to the troops in Afghanistan. He still remembers the soldiers we used to write to in class who were stationed in Iraq at the time, and he hopes to one day attend West Point as they did. I was so pleased to hear that he is still doing something for the troops, all these years later.
It did my heart good today to know that these students still remember our time together with fondness. We learned a lot in that classroom during those years. I hope I was able to pass on much more to them than multiplication and spelling. Isn't that what teaching is all about?
No comments:
Post a Comment