We are approaching the 1-year mark that our nation has been in the throes of the Coronavirus pandemic.
And this one is for the teachers.
My oldest son has a framed picture of his elementary class last year. The one that was normal, until it just – wasn’t. When he was dismissed for spring break and never returned that school year.
He loved that class. In fact, sitting at the kitchen table for the start of the following school year – the first one in which his younger brother will be joining him as a kindergartner – he professed to his sibling over and over how “great” his school was, how much “fun” it was. And he wasn’t just hyping it up, he truly believed that.
“Thank you mom,” he said to me that morning, “for finding us such a good school.”
And while I do believe his school is a good one, in a good district, with caring and dedicated administrators and specials staff, I also truly believe that his teacher, in particular, made that 2019-2020 experience so phenomenal.
It’s hard to know exactly how our kids are processing the pandemic. What internal monologues they are having that they don’t know how to express.
It’s hard to know exactly how many hours my son stays up at night, taking that class photo off his bedroom wall and staring at it longingly.
Teachers, if you ever have a doubt that you are making an impact on our children, look at the empty space on my son’s wall. This picture is a bright spot, a beacon of happy memories, and the longing for “normal” to return, all wrapped up in one. When he needs to ground himself, he takes that photograph off the wall and reflects.
And while this year will not live up to his naïve expectations at the breakfast table last fall, it certainly has lived up to the best of its abilities. And this is because of the teachers. Because of those beautiful souls who nurture and teach our children, even when it means facing their own fears about the pandemic. To be fair, it is also because of all the other support staff which makes a school whole, from the music teachers to the janitors to the school nurse to the bus drivers to the principal, just to name a few.
This year has been hard on our children but it’s also taught them a new perspective. On one particular virtual learning day, we ran an errand around dismissal time. And happened to pass by a school bus from another district, which had in-person school that day.
“Aww, not fair!” my oldest whined from the backseat, “they got to go to school today!”
As much as my kiddo loved school last year, I don’t think that pre-Covid I ever would have heard him lament not getting to go to school.
So thank you, to everyone at my sons’ school, for all that you do, and all that you continue to do.
