Way Back Wednesday

Ok....so you have probably noticed that I have started to post Way Back Wednesday on Tuesday night. Don't judge me....I just can't seem to pull it together in the mornings anymore. And this week my 3rd graders are taking their first state assessments and life isn't real rosy. And to prove it, I have a GIGANTIC cold sore on half of my bottom lip and it is spreading to my face/chin. Not one 3rd grader mentioned it and pretty much anyone who sees me is patting me like I am on my way to crazyland. Too late, just sayin'.

So anyway, next week is spring break so maybe I can get myself pulled back together. Good luck with that is what my people will tell you.

Rambling on .....last week I posted a picture of my freshman basketball team and asked you to guess which one I was and to leave your guess in my COMMENT section. 5 comments(whew--hard to keep up) later....a few people guessed I was number 31. A good friend of mine and her lovely husband were trying to guess. He chose someone and she pointed out to him there was no way that was me because and I quote, " her boobs aren't that big NOW let alone 27 years ago".....hee hee she was right.

This week it is still all about me (no surprise there) and so I am sharing my second grade class picture.
And I am not going to make you guess this week.....I am the tallest person in class. (And if you scroll over the picture you can make it larger so you can see my really great homemade dress and awesome hair.) Striped shirt boy was almost there....and mean old Angie was pretty close, but I was the tallest person in my grade until 4th grade when stupid Larry caught me and passed me up. We were a motley crew.....but this woman was and still is a saint. She loved each and every one of us--we all felt like we were her favorite (really it was me--she liked me best just like everyone else in my family does) and we would fight at recess over who was her favorite.


She is my most favorite teacher of all time. I always knew I wanted to be a teacher and after I had her, I wanted to be just like her. Not sure I am there yet, but I am working on it. She just had a way with kids like me...and Mean Old Angie...and Red Shirt Boy...and Plaid Paul. When I look at this picture, she had a load to deal with every day but we never knew it....we just knew that we were special to her. And we showed up every day ready to do whatever she asked us. We prayed every day before we went to lunch and she turned our jump rope and pushed us in the swings.

I am sure that we learned stuff from a "book" but the relationship she built with each of us meant so much more to my life than anything she taught in a "book".

We celebrated her birthday...she is the only teacher I ever had that did that. She turned 48 the year I was in her class. She brought treats and everything.

For all my Mizpah readers....this teacher is Pastor Nancy's mom. No kidding.

Yesterday, I showed my third graders this picture and asked them to guess which one is me. After some attempts....several of which were clearly boys....one little blue eyed boy very quietly said, "You're the tallest person in the class." He looked around at the rest of the class and gently said, " She told us on the first day of school that she was the tallest person in her grade until she was in 4th grade." WOW....someone was listening to me.

Scary.