4th Grade and Special Souls

4th Grade has begun

We have been blessed with an AMAZING teacher

Yet again

I have been thinking a lot about teachers lately

Random Thoughts 

All day long
Being a Mom is the hardest job in the world
Letting go of your little babe to go off to school is even harder
I believe you need to be close to the ones who teach your children
I believe those who teach are special souls
My heart rests a bit when I love and trust the one my little is with all day
What would we do without these special souls?

Ponder, ponder, ponder....

We were lucky enough to have lunch with 

Ms. Michael

Calista's First Grade Teacher
The day before 4th grade began

We loved her then and maybe love her more now

Ms. Michael is a special kind of lady

She looks like she could be on the cover of

Sports Illustrated Swim Suit Edition

BUT

She decided to teach

BECAUSE
She is one of those special souls

Cali the Cat and Ms. Michael 2007

Having lunch with Ms. Michael was great

AND

Watching Calista's blue eyes light up as she talked to her

Like she was her best friend

Well that was just fabulous

I didn't make them pose for a picture

BUT

I will have that "mental picture" stored in the 

"Vault" (aka my head)

FOREVER

AND

I love it.

I do have a picture of Calista before lunch began

She wanted to wear her Christmas Couture Dress

She wants to wear this dress

Everywhere we go 

I normally say 

"No honey not this time."

BUT

"Aunt Cassie picked it out, why not Mom?"

Aunt Cassie (who is another special soul)

Will receive payback when Madee

Is a tween

I gave in to my Blue-Eyed Girl

I choose to pick my battles.

 

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

RIGHT?
Having lunch made me
Ponder, ponder, ponder
Yet again....
I thought about MY first grade teacher
Ms. Wells
OHHHH Ms. Wells
You are the reason I wanted to be a teacher
Ms. Wells taught at SMES up until this year
She still made me feel special even in my 30's
One time at a Science Fair while I was there as a parent
She made me feel like the
Homecoming Queen
She brought me around to all of the other teachers
To inform them I was her favorite student and look at me now
Look at how wonderful I turned out,
Look at MY amazing daughter
Oh Ms. Wells
YOU
Special Special Soul
I am lucky enough to still see some of my favs when I pick up Cali everyday
Mr. Thorpe, Mrs. Turner, and on occasion one of my favorite favorite favs, Mama Henry
I still remember most of the things you taught me
Mostly, I remember how you treated me
While all the kids were making fun of my chicken legs
YOU encouraged me and made me feel like a million bucks
You know when you see your teacher outside of school and you can't believe they shop for food?
OR
Go out to eat?
You also feel that way when they pass away.....
NOT
These special souls they are immortal.....
RIGHT?
Mr. Belcher one of my favorite Jr. High teachers recently made his way to the other side
He was amazing to say the least
I mean who wants to hang out with stinky 7th and 8th graders all day
A Special Soul
One of my favorite memories of Mr. Belcher was this.....
I was not the most popular of the ladies in Jr. High to say the least
BUT
I was pretty smart
One young man who shall remain nameless liked to take advantage of my brain
He would copy off of every one of my math tests in Belcher's class
Nameless also liked to point out I had no boobs, chicken legs, mushroom hair, and weird glasses
One day I decided I was "Mad as H-E-Double Hockey Sticks and I wasn't going to take it anymore!"
I wrote EVERY answer wrong on our end of the week test knowing he was going to copy me
Muahahahahahah I got him
He turned his test in and I quickly changed  all of my answers to the correct ones
On Monday when Mr. Belcher passed our tests back, I had 100%
Nameless had a 0%
As Mr. Belcher handed me my test he winked and said
"Good job, Skipper."
I knew he knew what I did and I liked it!

There is a special soul in this picture

Angie, Mr. Sill, Me, and Jodie; Sophmore Year

This picture makes me smile from ear to ear

You know the kind of smile that makes your cheeks hurt

Mr. Sill was one of a kind

He defined the teacher who everybody was scared of

BUT

We all loved

There are too many stories to tell about Mr. Sill

Too many stories that make me smile

He wasn't what most people thought about him

He was an angel, even though he wanted everybody to believe he was the Lucifer

My Senior Year I had open heart surgery

I didn't want anybody to feel sorry for me, so I didn't make a big deal about it

My close friends knew and were with me

Cassie, Jenny, James, and my family

The first day I came back after said surgery

Mr. Sill saw me, hooked elbows with me and said

"Walk with me young lady."

So I did, I walked with him all the way to his classroom

Even though my next class was accross the campus

AND

I wasn't feeling all that well.....heart surgery and all

He told me he had heard I had work done on my "ticker"

He said he thought about me daily and was glad I was back

He also told me to give them H-E-Double Hockey Sticks

Mr. Sill retired the year we graduated

He passed away a short time later

My ticker hurt that day

All of these random thoughts about special souls

AND

I don't think I can portray in a Blog how much teachers have made a difference in my life

AND

I hope they do the same for my girl

I have many friends that are teachers

I think they are all amazing

I believe there is a special place in Heaven for them

I also believe this year, this 4th grade year.....

Well this is going to be one grandiose year!

I mean how can you look this gorgeous on your first day without having a grandiose year?