teachers are like that, you know?

     The last few precious days of summer vacation are looking us square in the eyes and for the children around these parts of the country, it is down to only a matter of a week come tomorrow morning.  The 18th of August will be the first day of school for children in the Montrose and Olathe school system while teachers and our support staffs will officially return to their respective schools on Wednesday.  I smile as I type those words because in all honesty most of them have been in their classrooms for over a week now, working diligently to get things ready to go on their own time.   Teachers are like that, you know?

I've been trying to get things ready in my first-grade classroom at Olathe Elementary for the past couple of weeks now.  I'm still not done but some how or another things will find their state of completion by the time that first bell rings on Monday morning.  One thing that I have found lacking here in south western Colorado is the availability of teacher supply stores.  Back home in south central Kansas I was used to either running over to Wichita or up to Salina to pick out whatever I needed.  I know it's easier to buy online these days but I still like to see what it is that I am getting first before buying it.  There are a few stores around here that have small sections with things that teachers might be able to use and I frequent them often.  I particularly like going to the Dollar Tree because, well, because things are a dollar.  Yesterday  I was there looking for some math ideas for my bulletin board and when the cashier started to ring up my purchases she asked me if I was a teacher.  I smiled and said that I was, probably for longer than she had been alive :)  I told her how glad I was that the store had a few of the things that I was needing and that I could get them for such a good price.  That young clerk had the nicest smile on her face and as she handed me the receipt she said how sorry she was that she couldn't just give them to me, to use for the kids.  That sweet young woman was sincerely thinking about my having to use my own money to buy things for school and she felt badly about it.  I told her not to worry and that's just how we do it.  Teachers are like that, you know?

Yesterday towards noon time, I met Mike for lunch at Wendy's and as we sat there eating, I couldn't help but to overhear the conversation of the folks sitting right next to us.  It was a young mother with two energetic young boys in tow.  They had stopped in to eat and it was apparent that their morning had been filled with clothes shopping for school.  They were in for a bite to eat and then they too were going over to the Dollar Tree to get their school supplies.  I heard her say to her sons that they needed to remember to thank their grandmother for providing the money to use for school shopping.  I will never forget the sound of that young mother's voice as she admonished her sons to be grateful for the gifts that they had been able to get yesterday, their lunches included.  It was one of sincerity and kindness, filled with gratitude for that amount of assistance in getting her sons ready to enter the classroom.  For what ever reason, that momma may have needed a little help.  Back home in Hutchinson it was always the good people down at First Call For Help who rounded up the backpacks and school supplies for kids that would have to do without.  All over the country, Kansas and Colorado included, people donate to the "Stuff the Bus" campaign for the kids in their area.  Private individuals, some who no longer have to buy school supplies because their children are now grown, buy them anyway.  To all the people who extend their hand for the benefit of a child that needs their help, I say a sincere word of thanks for what they do.  For the least of things and the greatest of things, everything that is done on behalf of a child is so very needed.  I have found over the course of the last 37 years that people who do that kind of thing are pretty much humble folks and they'd be the first to say something like~

"Hey, it was no big deal.  I was in the school supply area anyways and I just threw in a couple of boxes of crayons, half a dozen glue sticks, and a few packs of pencils.  No problem.  Glad to help you out."

I should not be surprised to hear a response such as that one because good people are just like that, you know?

   My days in education have been many and if I do the calculations kinda/sorta correctly,  I come up with the number 13,140 as you give or take a day or two.  36 years times 365 days because you don't stop being a teacher when the last day of school bell rings to send us home.   I have been blessed to be given the chance to be a teacher for the 37th year now and I remain most thankful for it.  Having failed retirement not once but twice now, I've had the opportunity to meet new educators and students here along the Western Slopes.  I know that I cannot teach forever and that sooner or later, it will be time to say it is enough.  But I do hope that I can remain in the classroom for at least five years more and when I am done that perhaps there will be another way to help kids even when I am 64.  Hey come to think of it, maybe there will be a way that I can help kids when I am even older than that.  The possibilities are endless and I think it would be a sad day when I wasn't able to help a young person.  Until the day I die, whether I'm in the classroom or not, I don't think I'll be able to give up who I have become as a teacher.  I'm not alone here.  There are thousands of gazillions of educators out there, just like me.  Ask one of them and they will more than likely tell you the exact same thing.  Good teachers are like that, you know?

At this age, she was always going to be a nurse.  Later on, someone mentioned to her that nurses see blood from time to time.  A new game plan was quickly  formulated for life.  To all of the nurses out there who take care of people every single day, whether they see blood or not, the woman that the little girl would grow up to be says "Thank you!".

She thought it would be fun to be a secretary in an office somewhere.  I'm not sure where that came from but it didn't last long.  I admire all the people that are.  I have come to learn that secretaries and folks in the front office have a most important job.  "First impressions" are formed with them.  Olathe Elementary School has some of the very finest ones around.

When you finally figure out what to do with your life, it sure does make things a whole lot easier.