Last Day of School 2010

Today. It crept right up on us.

Maddie finished 2nd grade. SECOND GRADE.

How did THAT happen? While the overall year has been terribly difficult for her, the last couple of months have been much improved. She found this sweet little friend.


Her name is Nogc, and her family is from Vietnam. She is beautiful and seems to have such a sweet heart. The last few weeks, when I would drop Maddie off at school Nogc would be waiting under this little shade tree, anticipating Maddie's arrival. You can imagine how good that made Maddie feel. And the first time that Nogc came running up to our car, out from under the shady tree. Wow. That spoke to my heart. After Maddie got out and smiled at me and said, "See ya, Mom. Love you." I burst into tears because here it was, another tangible answer to a mother's prayer. I had been praying for months that some sweet little girl would decide to be Maddie's little school buddy. And here she was. Complete with "bff" notes to each other.

And her teacher. Oh mercy.

Delightful Ms. Tiernan. She was kind and gentle yet strong. 31 kids in her class. THIRTY-ONE. And when I would be in the room helping, she had complete control. It really was amazing. And through the dark months of winter and this fall, when Maddie was sobbing every day, stating that she hated school, she always qualified it with, "But I love Ms. Tiernan. She's so nice to me."

Jackson finished preschool 3. Little buddy.

Oh-how-he-LOVED-it. And his teachers or "chee-chers" as he called them ... They HUNG-THE-MOON. He loved them so much, praying for them every single night. And talking about them off and on all day. I mean, we would leave school and I'd say, "Okay, now we're gonna go run an errand." And he would pipe up from the peanut gallery and say, "No, Mommy. My chee-chers said we had to go HOME." It was always, "My chee-chers said ..." And he would cry when it wasn't a school day. What kid does that?

Mrs. Freda.

Mrs. Elisco.

Mrs. Casey.

And so today was sad for me, too. You know, when someone loves your child(ren) and invests so much time and energy into them, they end up being someone that you admire and adore, too. And so we will miss Mrs. Freda, Mrs. Elisco, Mrs. Casey and Ms. Tiernan. The precedent was set high for Jackson and his first year of school. I pray that every teacher he has will be as amazing and loving and talented as the three of them.

And Ms. Tiernan. I can't even imagine having gone through such a rough year with Maddie, without having loving Ms. Tiernan on the other side, encouraging her and being gentle with her at school, 6 hours a day. That was just HUGE.

The impact that educators have on the children they teach is far-reaching. Today, as I think back to the kids' year at school I have a great-big-grate-ful heart.