VIEW FROM THE FRONT OFFICE
The countdown has begun! Today I asked a senior girl how many days of
school were left and she quickly replied 23. I didn’t bother to check if she
was correct, but I figured with the quickness of her answer, it had to be spot
on. It was just a year ago I could ask my own daughter how many days were left
in the school year. I thought last year
went quick, since my baby was a senior, but I have to admit this year seems to
have flown by quicker. It seems like we
were just getting ready for graduation and in just a few short weeks we will no
longer have an empty nest as Haylee wraps up her first year of college.
Speaking of that empty nest, I will admit that I did much
better than I thought I would. At Easter
service, I leaned over to Karla and made the comment this was the first Easter
we’ve spent alone. She negated that
comment, stating we spent our first two Easters without kids. I gave her the
“you know what I mean” look and she just smiled. This was our first childless Easter in 28
years, but we didn’t celebrate as if we were childless. We had some peeps and
jellybeans AND made some small Easter gift bags for some “adopted” kids.
Overall, though, I have done well with the empty nest.
Karla on the other hand… One night as we were sitting in
our chairs watching TV, she looks over at me and says, “I miss my kids and my
foreigns!” I truly believe Karla missed the personal connection to being
involved with the school. When she would attend an activity, that personal
connection (the relationship) wasn’t there. I still have the daily contact with
kids and get my “kid fix” each and every day (and wouldn’t trade it for
anything.) This is not the case for Karla. So, after a little discussion, the
Sheffield home will, again, host a foreign exchange student - a boy from
Dortmund, Germany.
We have enjoyed hosting “foreigns” and this will be our 6th
one. Each of our previous foreigns has
had a remarkable experience. Where else
can they become a member of such a close knit family - not just our personal
one, but the E-M family. Everyone has
embraced each foreign as their own. This experience is not something they can
learn in a book or even watch in a movie.
It is all about the relationships that are built, developed, and
nurtured. That is the experience we want each of them to have - to know they
are loved, embraced, and welcomed as one of our own.
This
is also true as an educator - it is about the relationships we build with our
students. These relationships are not something we can quantify. We can’t place
a price tag on them - they won’t show up in test scores, average daily
attendance, cost per pupil. However,
it’s what brings us all together; it’s what makes the lonely student come back
each day; it’s what sustains the hungry second grader; it’s what gives the
senior the hope for tomorrow. Nothing nourishes my heart more than the 2nd
grader rushing to greet you in the morning with a hug or the 7th grader getting
a huge smile when you tell them they did a great job yesterday at the track
meet. It is truly all about the relationships.
As
we say “so long for now” to our graduating seniors, my wish for each of them is
this: I hope they have learned as much from me as I have from them. We have
grown together as Timberwolves and it has been an AMAZING transformation as
each has matured into such fine young adults! This transformation is not nearly
complete, so go the distance. I will wrap this up with two music quotes:
“Because
I knew you, I have been changed for good.”
“Who
says you can’t go back
Been
all around the world as a matter of fact
There’s
only one place left I want to go
Who
says you can’t go home!”
To the Class of 2018: You will ALWAYS have a home at
Exeter-Milligan.
We’ll leave the light
on for ya!
No comments:
Post a Comment