I spent this morning at the Elementary School. I volunteer as the Cultural Arts Chair through the PTA, which means I coordinate Special Assemblies for the school. Today we brought in a Comedy Duo who present a fun and informative show about how to prevent and deal with bullying. We had them come last year too, the kids love them and they share great messages about a difficult topic in a very accessible way.
As I sat in the back of the room I found myself watching the audience more than the performance. Actually, I found myself watching the people on the edges of the audience who were watching the audience themselves. I found myself overwhelmed with love and gratitude for the amazing teachers, administrators and specialist who educate and care for my children every day. We've been at this school for four years now and plan to be here for many years to come and I feel so fortunate to have an especially great group of people who genuinely love their work and the children they work with.
In the wake of the Newtown shootings, a lot of discussion about guns and school safety has taken over the internet. While these issues have of course spent some time on my mind's stage as well, I have found that for me the biggest effect of this tragedy has been that I have developed this tremendous tenderness for all the fabulous people who work in our schools. I know that every one of them would throw themselves in harm's way to protect my children and, more importantly, I know that they work hard every day to keep them safe and help them grow and learn and be their best selves.
I also found myself watching the Kindergarten teachers more closely than usual as I thought about Gavin starting school next year and I have to say that Kindergarten teachers are a special kind of amazing. As exhausted as I feel after a day with just one almost-Kindergartner I just cannot imagine the kind of patience required to nurture a whole classroom full of them every day, and to do it with such grace!
Love you, teachers!
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