Fruits of Our Labor

The other day, I saw my students that I taught a year ago.  I checked the calendar and the classes began exactly a year ago to date.  Time flies and I realized that we had not seen each other in a  year.

Their reactions ranged from OMG to I miss you.  They were happy to see me and I was equally happy to see them.  The reunions were brief and in passing, we said our Hello’s and How are you’s?

I heard a couple of them tell others, “She gave me an A.”  I silently thought, “No.  You earned an A.  You followed my directions and you fulfilled the bill.  You adhered to the guidelines as you walked the walk and talked the talk, so to speak.  You stayed the course and you crossed your t’s and dotted your i’s.”

But I just smiled in acknowledgement as they discovered their own potential and self-worth.  They had followed my lead and as an educator, I can inaudibly sigh, “Mission Accomplished.”

When we are given a task to do, we often have private feelings of uncertainty as well.   We educators also get butterflies in our stomachs the night before we meet a new group of students.  We hope that we can successfully usher the train of students into that final stop which is the end of the term.

Once, we have all safely arrived, will those that have been transported be filled with resentment?  Will they hate to see the conductor coming? Or will they disembark and leave the train platform filled with joyous memories?

Fortunately for me, I saw waves and smiles which symbolized fond remembrances.  I was warmed as I celebrated the fruits of my labor.

I then saw the teacher who had been out on maternity leave. She had entrusted her students to me last year and when she told me that her daughter is now a year old, all I could say was, “My, my, my.”

Lynn M.                                                                                     April 15, 2017