I love to see daybreak, just when the sun is thinking about fully arising.
The view this morning, just about 10 minutes ago. The world is still turning and despite everything bad that always seems to fill the front pages of the newspaper, it remains a wonderful place to be alive in. To call "home".
It seems so hard to fathom that today is already the second day of the eighth month of the year and all it takes is a quick glance at the calendar on the wall to realize that summer vacation is just about over. Monday of this week, I will start heading over to school at Olathe each day to begin to get things ready for "the 19" students who will be in my first grade room for the 2014-2015 school year. I am excited and anxious to begin my 37th year of being an educator and I hope to be able to make a difference in the lives of the little 6 and 7-year olds that have been entrusted to me. It's a lot of fun to look at the world through the eyes of first graders and I cannot wait to meet them and be their teacher. I have been blessed beyond measure to be able to continue to teach, now five years after I first announced my retirement. Retiring was about the craziest idea I could have come up with, now that I stop to think about it. It seemed like a good idea at the time but it only took me about 4 months to realize that there was still plenty of "teacher" left within me. As long as I can be of help I intend to stick with it. I was born to be a teacher. I believe that with all my heart.
It was just about a year ago now, that I received the chance to return to the classroom in a little town just up the road a ways from Montrose. After a long summer filled with homesickness for Kansas, I got the call to interview for a fourth-grade position at Olathe Elementary. Within a few hours the position was offered to me and I gladly accepted it. I had less than a week's time to prepare things in the classroom but it didn't matter to me. It was the answer to a heartfelt prayer of mine to be able to find a school that needed me and Olathe did.
Mike and I live just outside the city limits of Montrose, a city nestled into the valley not all that far from the border of the great state of Utah. The population here is slightly under 20,000 people, give or take a few. The view, at least from our home, is a travel brochure's "dream sight"for a vacation. The San Juan mountain range is to the south while to the east is the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. To the west is the long stretching Uncompahgre Range while to the north is the Grand Mesa. There are plenty of stores here, great places to visit, and a gazillion things to do. It is, for all intents and purposes, a good place to live. But there is something missing, at least for me, and I find that "something" just up the road a ways in a great little town called Olathe.
For me, the town of Olathe and in particular Olathe Elementary School, provide me with a sense of community. Real community. Honest and genuine. It only took me about 5 minutes of stepping inside my new school last August to realize that and it sure felt good. After 3 months of floundering and trying desperately to find my way as a newly married and transplanted flatlander from Kansas, the good people up there threw out about a gazillion "lifesavers" to me. Believe me, I grabbed on to them for all that they were worth. It had taken a while but I finally found a place to carve my own little niche into and I anchored myself to the Colorado soil with the help of a lot of good people who really did care about me. For that, I will always be grateful.
I said to someone once back home in Kansas that the town of Olathe reminded me of the Reno County towns of Hutchinson, Haven, South Hutchinson, Nickerson and Buhler all rolled up into one fine community. Less than 2,000 people live there and those that do have to make the journey to either Montrose or Delta when they wish to pay a visit to the local City Market or Walmart. That's ok. One of the nice things about Olathe is that they don't have one. Yet what they lack in big city amenities is far outweighed by what they DO have in their people and the pride that they show in their little town. I'm so thankful to be a part of it and even though there is a nice school just down the road about a mile here from where we live that would be a lot closer to teach at, I would not trade the experience that I have each day at Olathe for anything. It is MORE than worth the drive there. A gazillion times more.
Well the day has begun now and speaking of Olathe, it's getting to be soon time to head there for a short while this morning. Today is the Olathe Sweet Corn Festival and we are planning to go, if only for a short while. I had heard of and seen Olathe sweet corn back home in Kansas on the shelves of my 5th Street Dillons in Hutchinson but I never realized that one day I'd be teaching in the very town where it is grown. If you haven't tried it yet, you really are missing out on something tasty.
Have a great weekend everyone and be sure to do something good and nice for yourself today. You are worth it!
Peggy Renfro, Olathe Pirate~
Never thought I'd say that in a million years.
I'm proud to call Olathe, Colorado my "community".
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