Fifty Years Seems Like a Long Time Ago, But...

     Fifty years ago, the week, I experienced major, life-changing trauma.  I was just seven years old.  Fifty years ago, life, as I knew it was forever changed by a single, unexplained jet crash, half way around the world.  Fifty years ago, my father was returning to his base in Thailand, from a routine recognizance mission over Vietnam.  Three miles short of the runway, his plane went down. He was pinned beneath the wreckage. He died instantly.

Enter Maxine Moore. She was my second grade teacher at Hawthorn Elementary School in Lincoln, Nebraska the time I lost my father.  She saved me with her kindness, compassion, her willingness to go above and beyond to help a broken, sad, and confused little girl.  She was Trauma-Informed and Trauma-Responsive before it was even an initiative in education.  Through her loved and guidance, I was able to heal and get back to some semblance of what life should look like for a sever year-old little girl.

I could tell you that they story stopped at the end of second grade.  It did not.  My mom remarried and we moved a couple of hours away.  Whenever we would go to Lincoln, my mom would make every effort to let me see Mrs. Moore.  We had a connection.   

When I graduated from high school, through the impact teachers like Mrs. Moore and several others, I decided that I wanted to become a teacher, too.  I went back to Lincoln to attend the University of Nebraska.  On many occasions, I would be invited to Mrs. Moore's home, for dinner to chat about college life, and to discuss current trends in education.

Friends! When we talk about the importance of relationships in teaching, Mrs. Moore is the first person who always comes to mind.  I wouldn't be the person I am or the teacher I am had it not been for Mrs. Moore and her love and compassion during the most traumatic time in my life.

So, I JustHave To Wonder.....

Fifty years ago, this month, my father died in Vietnam, when a plane he was piloting crashed just three miles short of the runway to the base he was flying from. So, I just have to wonder.....

…..how differently my life may have turned out if this major, traumatic even hadn't happened. You see, I was in the second grade when he died. To say I didn't handle it well, would be an understatement. Thankfully, I was blessed to have that one, very special teacher. That kind, compassionate adult, who took me under her wing and nurtured my poor broken heart and mind. Who made me feel safe again in a world where everything on the news was horrible and scary.

…..would I have become a teacher? There's a say that goes like this: “A teacher's influence affects eternity. He can never tell where his influence stops.” My second grade teacher was that teacher for me. Her kindness, in my time of need, could never be repaid.

The Bible says that God has already mapped out your life before you're ever born. God knows what he's doing, for there is nothing else I'd rather be doing in my life than making a difference in the lives of children, every day, just as my second grade teacher did for me all those years ago.

When God Speaks

When God Speaks

     This is not educational-related. However, I felt the need to share.

     Last week, I was on my way home from school. I took a different street because my car was out of gas, like the light was on out-of-gas! Any other day of the week I would have been on a completely different street.

     As I was slowing down to turn into the gas station, a car coming up to a stop sign failed to stop at the stop sign and pulled out in front of another car that was north-bound. The north-bound car spun around like a top three times before being stopped by a support wire for a telephone pole, facing east. The young woman got out of the car and was shaking like a leaf, obviously!

     I ran over to her. She was bleeding in her mouth. I held her and asked if I could call anyone for her. She said that her parents were on their way to Nebraska (What?!?!) to move her sister in to college and her brother was on his way to Wichita. I asked her if I could call anyone else. She said that she had no one else. I told her I wasn't going anywhere and that I would stay with her.

     As God would have it, the vehicle that stopped behind me was being driven by a nurse. She went over to the other car. The passenger in that car was in need of medical attention and the nurse (I didn't catch her name) was able to administer help until the ambulance arrived to transport her.

     I got the young girl my water bottle so she could rinse the blood out of her mouth. I filled out a police report while paramedics checked her out. Then I went back to stay with her. She said she didn't like the metallic taste in her mouth from the blood. I got her some wintergreen LifeSavers from the console of my car. She was able to get in touch with her brother. He hadn't left for Wichita yet.

     The girl said, “This is the first car I bought all by myself.” and “It's Husker-Red.” I totally got her, being a Nebraska girl, myself. She said “I wonder if I can get my Husker sticker off the bumper.” Friends! I knew exactly those feelings!

     One of the police officers (whose daughter I had taught in kindergarten. God again!) called the church where the young girl worked in the preschool (What?!? Another preschool teacher??) and explained the situation. The sweetest older couple came to the scene! In talking with them, I learned that the husband of the couple was in the Air Force and station in Vietnam the same time as my dad, at the same base that my dad flew out of, and flew the same type of plane, a B-52 Bomber, as my dad. He said if he could ever help me, or if I just wanted to talk, I could give him a call.

     All of this and any other day of the week I'd never have been on that street. So many God Moments stemming from a single incident!

What Do You Do With An Opportunity?

                                                                      When your heart tells you it's time to make a change,
                                             

                                                        to give a listen!


     When we moved to Hutchinson, seven years ago, I was fully prepared to finish out my teaching career here.  I wasn’t looking for a job.  I had called a former principal of mine to let him know I would be in the area and subbing in the schools.  The teaching position basically fell into my lap.
      After five years of teaching kindergarten, another opportunity came along, to teach preschool in the same district.  Again, I listened to my heart and ask for a transfer, which was granted.  The two years I spent in this building were magical!  I was given the power to do what was best for my students, by a principal with an early childhood background.  She “got me.  She understood that I knew what my students needed and gave me the freedom to teach my students how I saw fit.

    Again, my heart is speaking, and I must listen.  I have submitted my resignation to my current school district.  I am going to another district, to teach preschool.  The people that I interviewed with were fantastic!  I was barely home from my interview when they called and offered me my choice of three, yes three, positions, all early childhood!  I listened to my heart.  It told me it was time to go.  On to a new adventure!  

Still Trying to Process

Still Trying to Process

     Friends. I.CAN’T.EVEN.  I’m still trying hard to process everything I heard and learned at the Bridging to Resilience Conference I attended in Overland Park, KS last week. 

     I am humbled to have been in the company of such brave and courageous young people, who shared their stories of hope.  I think that’s the thing that has hit me the hardest.  These young people, who have experienced poverty, abuse, homelessness, addictions, bullying; the list could go on and on.  These young people bravely got up on the stage, in front of nearly 400 people, and shared their stories.  Now their stories of courage and of hope, and of resilience should be a lesson to us all!  These teens are nothing short of amazing!

     The brave women, who were part of a parent panel, who also shared their brave stories; stories of how their poverty, their addictions, their abusive situations, impacted the lives of their children.  They shared the hard work they each put forth in order to have a better life for themselves and their children.  In addition, they shared very real, very painful ways that we, as educators, put them in difficult spots.  Home visits (“Do you want me coming into your home and passing judgment?  Even if that judgment is unintentional, we can see it on your faces.”).  Classroom requests (“Billy needs a sack lunch for the field trip...tomorrow.  Folks.  I don’t have dollar one in my pocket to do this on such short notice.”)  We do these families such a huge disservice when we don’t seek to understand their circumstances, friends!  So powerful!

     Because I’m still processing, I’m going to leave this blog here, for now, and blog more later, as I continue to process.  These people are the ones that touched me the most.  These once-broken, resilient, courageous people who shared their most personal stories with those of us blessed enough to attend this conference.

What Kind of World Are We Leaving Future Generations?

What kind of world are we leaving for our children and grandchildren?  We are very quickly becoming a nation that has little regard for human life.  Upset over a break up?  Shoot up your high school.  Don’t like someone whose beliefs or the color of their skin is different from yours? Kill them.  Is this really the world we want for future generations? 
Where is empathy?  Where is “love your neighbor as yourself?”  Where is talking through problems, issues, concerns?  Where is responsibility? 

We are becoming a world where the only way we communicate with each other is through electronics.  I can't begin to tell you the number of children I see on electronics when I go to the grocery store!  Instead of giving them electronics, talk to them about environmental print, colors, shapes, counting, sorting.  I could go on and on!  Will it take more time?  Yes! Are you building relationships with your children? YES! What's more important?  Getting your shopping done as quickly as possible, or building relationships with your child(ren)?  Not too long ago, I was in a store when I saw a grubby little boy ask his mom if he could have a book.  Yes, A BOOK!  Do you know what his mom said to him?  "Go put that damn thing back!  You know I can't get you that and still get my cigarettes!"  True story!  Put down your devices, think about your child,  and TALK and LISTEN to one another.  The art of human conversation is on a rapid decline.  No one listens to each other any more.  We’re all too busy on our electronic devices.  Relationships aren’t important anymore-just things.  It’s a crisis in our very culture.  What is it going to take to turn this culture crisis around? It’s becoming a culture where things are more important than people.  Where life holds very little value.  We need to build up and value our relationships with one another. I’m very worried for future generations.
This quote is taken from an emergency room doctor: “It is the result of a "crisis of culture", a culture in which it is perfectly acceptable to spend money on luxuries and vices while refusing to take care of one's self. It is a culture based on the irresponsible credo that ‘I can do whatever I want to because someone else will always take care of me’.”
We need to teach our children the importance of relationships with other human beings, that it’s okay to be different, that it’s okay to look different, that it’s okay to have different likes and dislikes, without having huge arguments about who’s right and who’s wrong!  I explicitly teach my students the difference between fact and opinion.  “Mrs. Jenkins!  _______ says my picture is ugly.”  Fact or opinion?  It’s just someone else’s opinion and if you like it, that’s okay, while then teaching the other person that it’s not okay to say mean things to their classmate, how to disagree, and the art of apology.  Those are all things our children need to learn.  Maybe if we can teach them these things, the world they will live in, as adults, will be a less cruel place to be.  

 

A Bad Case of the Nerves

A Bad Case of the Nerves

   My first presentation at a national conference:  YIKES!

                                                               

                                                                                                           

     What was I thinking??  This is WAY outside my comfort zone! 

       

However, through the encouragement of some pretty important people in my life, I’m taking the plunge!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

     Here are the things going through my head:

v Is the presentation long enough?

v Will the people in attendance listen to what I have to say?

v Will they care?

v Will they think the ideas I share are worth implementing?

 

                                                                 

  I’m very thankful that I’ve got Spring Break to put the finishing touches on my presentation!