August 16, 2011 is a date that has been saved on my very full calendar for at least two years. Every now and then Jenna has continued to remind me of the promise made long ago that I would go with her to school on her very first day. When I say go with her I don’t me drop her off, I mean to spend the whole day at school.
Two weeks before school started she called me early one morning to see if I was packed to make the three hour trip to her home. I let her know I had not packed and she assured me I needed to start. We discussed what to wear and decided to dress alike. Jenna’s school requires students to wear uniforms so we decided on navy blue bottoms and bright pink polo shirts and tennis shoes with socks.
Jenna’s mom packed us a lunch fit for two queens and drove us to school. We even found a loving note in our lunch box from her mother.
It was a traumatic day, when I awakened the morning of our big day I felt weepy I actually had a few tears run down my cheek. As I wobbled up the stairs it struck me that Jenna could have changed her mind about having me go to school with her so I thought I better check. She seemed stumped that I would even ask if she still wanted me to go. Then I noticed her mother had red eyes and it hit me ohhhhhhhhh yeah it’s the first day that our girl would be leaving her mother all day. This day was the day the chick was leaving the next so to speak.
I felt better about my tears when I saw her mother and soon we were having a great time taking first day of school pictures of older brother Jadon, Jenna and MarMar.
It was a glorious day we learned all about the rules, we listened to stories, we played Let’s Make a Deal and we colored, cut, glued and ate popcorn. The school room looks like a kids delight with a lot of amazing things including two hermit crabs.
My hat is off to teachers every where! I learned that a teacher especially in a one room school hardly has time to get a drink of water. I learned that teachers need an extra measure of patience and humor. I learned that there is a very creative, special teacher in Topeka, KS named Mrs. H.
