Email

The first email I read this morning was from a parent. She had sent a photo of my student with two former students (one of them being a sibling). She took time out of her night just to write and say thank you.

It seems like just yesterday I had those kids in class. In reality, I was pregnant with Jonas when one of them was in my class. Jonas will somehow be five this month, so I guess it wasn’t just yesterday, after all.

The picture reminded me of something I told myself a lot when I was in my earlier years of teaching, working and crying and feeling like my head was under water at least half the time: you are in this for the long haul. This is not a sprint. There is no Easy Button. That’s what makes it worth it.

It’s something I tell our new teachers a lot. If we could just be awesome at all things right away it would suck a lot of the joy out of this job, honestly. The joy comes from the work. The joy comes from learning how kids learn, how they love, how they laugh. The joy comes from learning how we learn, too.

That picture reminded me how far I’ve come as an educator, and how much farther I want to go.

I’m grateful for kids and their parents who come on this journey with me.

*****

I know you know as a mother what it means to have a teacher who truly loves & cares for your children. I can’t thank you enough. Happy New Year….keep lighting the world