Miss You

As a teacher, I was very attached to my students. I loved them with a motherly love and I cared deeply for them. I took their problems and worries home with me. That made me very good at my job and makes it hard for me to go back to it. It also makes this day a sad one every year. Six years ago one of my dear students went to heaven. I have many fond memories of her and her family and I am so grateful that they shared her with me. I look forward to seeing her again some day in a body completely healed.

In Remembrance

This day eight years ago is so vivid in my memory. It was my very first year teaching. I had no idea what was going on when someone came in and said to turn on the TV, just in time to see the second plane hit the towers. My students were special education students, one of whom was deaf. Our interpreter had just left, so I remember signing the sign for plane crashing and then building over and over again for her.

My students kept asking the question we were all asking too, "Why?"

I was proud of how our country united after that...that unity seems so distant now.

In memory of those who perished, just trying to earn a living and those who ran into burning buildings to try to save others, and also to those who died retaking their plane and protect the people who would have been involved there. And in honor of those who have served our country since, especially my cousin Andrew, Evan (whose mother was with me in that classroom that day), and my friend (from grade school through high school) who is currently deployed to the middle east, Derrick. Thank you!

Missing Miss Pink

This time of year I always think of a student of mine who passed away. She had a January birthday and she died in February (five years ago today), so winter always conjures memories. She was as stubborn as could be and I loved her. She was funny and her favorite color was pink. She loved Disney characters, jewelry, and pink socks.

She missed a lot of school, so I often saw her for home bound services at her grandmothers’ homes. She would stay with one or the other of them while her parents were at work and they were both so warm and kind, letting this stranger come in and commandeer their table and granddaughter for a couple of hours a few times a week.

Through all that I got to know and love her more. I have a few things to remember her by, photos (that I won’t show for her and her family’s privacy), a picture she drew, a ring (we had matching ones, so I think of her whenever I see it), and a ribbon (from a fundraiser some of my peer tutors did to raise money to donate to a place that helped her when she was small). She’ll always have a place in my heart and her name is oft spoken in our home, as we named one of our girls after her.