Family Ties

Tuesday I had the chance to go home for a good long time. Bob covered the Line from 9-12ish when Tammie got here. She stayed from 12ish till I got back, a little after 3. The weather was gorgeous, a sunny 70 degree Indian summer day.  And I had a glorious 6 hours where I could shower, eat, and decompress. My goal was to take a nap. However my already finicky sleeping habits combined with the urge to prepare for Wednesday’s forecasted rain made sleep impossible.

When I got back to camp, I found Tammie sitting in line chatting with the person next to her. It turned out to be the mother of one of her students she’d had when she worked as a long-term substitute here at Fairview.  Then Mary-Beth, a current teacher here (who was the teacher Tammie had subbed for) came to say hello and also remembered her. Her daughter was their student eight years ago, yet they knew each other by name.  It was like a reunion of old friends, but we’re talking about a parent-teacher relationship! Not only that, but a parent-substitute teacher relationship. As a prospective parent at this school, watching them interact was really uplifting.

Then students walked up and down the Line with popcorn and suckers and little notes of encouragement they had put together as a class. How cool that teachers are organizing ways to reach out to us in a positive way!

The note attached to a bag of popcorn from the students (held up for me by one of Iris' future classmates, Marley)

As the evening drew on I got to know another woman, Jen (#29), and her sister Karen and friend Anna.  Karen’s son also came to school here years ago, and another of Jen’s sisters currently has children at school here.  These are an awesome group of women, and they remind me so much of me and my sister.  Hearing about Karen’s experience with this school made me feel like I am not waiting in Line simply to enroll into an educational system, but to join a family!

Time and again, I am reassured that we are in the right place. Even though I am missing my babies, we are definitely doing the right thing for our children by toughing it out. I am so thankful for this opportunity.