I went to Kindergarten at the sweetest little school in Lilburn, Georgia. I have TONS of memories of that school year, from hunting for a dinosaur egg to cooking in our classroom to playing on a computer for the FIRST TIME. We moved away after that year and I did not keep up any friendships with my friends. I'm really only in contact (and that's just through Facebook updates) with about four people I knew in Lilburn. I hadn't even been back to the school until my senior year of college except for a short visit in first grade. When I started my student teaching at a nearby middle school, I drove by it one day (couldn't believe I actually remembered how to get to it! I remembered the bus route!) and pulled through the parking lot and memories came flooding back.
Imagine my surprise when I received a friend request from my Kindergarten TEACHER the other day. Oh, I was so tickled! I quickly sent her a message asking if she even remembered who I was and I was shocked that she responded that she did remember me and knew that I'd moved to Tifton for first grade. (And yes, I do have Tifton as my hometown on Facebook so I realize it's entirely possible she just browsed around before she responded.) In Tifton, this just wouldn't really be a big deal. Everybody knows everybody and I've been friends on Facebook with my first and second grade teachers forever - because they've just known where I am and what I'm doing. I taught my first grade teacher's son when I started teaching school - you just don't lose touch as easily. To track someone down in another city after not seeing them for that long, that was a big deal to me!
I have wondered over the years where she was and what she was doing. I knew I'd never find her because she was so young when she taught me and wasn't married. She is absolutely one of "those" teachers that you remember forever. She was fabulous. In my message I told her that James and I had already started singing some of the songs she taught us in Kindergarten - I just wish I could remember more!
James has one more year of preschool before he's in Pre-K. And we can send him to one of three places (really more...but we're considering three different things). At the end of this year (or before...) I have to have figured out whether to keep him at his current school, put him in the public school Pre-K lottery, or put him on the list for a private school in our area. I've been thinking a lot lately about what I want his school experience to be like so it's funny that these memories came flooding back during all of our consideration.
I want him to have sweet, loving teachers like her. One that will look you up almost twenty-five years later just to know how you're doing! ;) I want him to remember {vividly!} the things that his teachers taught him and the lessons he learned in the classroom. I want him to be able to name half the people in the class picture even if we pick up and move away the next year. Because I can. That's my Kindergarten experience. And I want that for my kids, too.
Look at that side ponytail. What you can't see is the skirt with bike shorts under it. ;)
She is the dark haired teacher. She looks EXACTLY the same now.
1 comment:
That side pony is pretty fab!!!
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