Wednesday I had the pleasure of doing a very special school visit... to my old Elementary School. Yup.
When they directed me to where I'd be speaking, I already knew the way. Granted, it was to the new fancy gym which didn't exist when I went to school there. But I had to walk right by the lunch room/auditorium where I had a solo in the 5th grade to sing "You Light Up My Life." (That dates me, huh?)
And indeed, those halls felt so familiar. A bittersweet moment, it turns out, as the school is scheduled to be torn down next May for a brand new school which will replace it. They said I could have a brick from the old building, and oh do I want one!
I have nothing but good memories from East Side. So much so, I included the school in my picture book SOAP, SOAP, SOAP ~ JABON, JABON, JABON. (The red brick building in the lower right and right.) The kids loved being famous!
The nice thing is, I now have some wonderful NEW memories of East Side Elementary, because they have a whole new crop of kids coming through...
Get a load of this wonderful coloring book Mrs. Broome's kindergarten class created for me - there are SIXTEEN pages of art creations in this book, all featuring my dog Bernie! Can you believe it? (The cover art was by budding artist, Diane.) I tell ya, that does a heart some serious fuzzy good.
PTA Mom and Arts in Education hostess, Molly, was wonderful, as was Tray - the PE instructor who took care of me and introduced me with deft skill. Also the wonderful teacher who played tech guru on the fly. (??) Thank you everybody!
We had fun. :)
Not much has changed at East Side (which I LOVED seeing!), although I can see why the teachers might be anxious for some new digs. That photo at the top? That was even before my time, in the 1960's. Bad math puts me there in the late 70's. So I do understand.
But still, I'll miss the old building. I hope the kids know what a special school they've had the good fortune to attend. I'm so glad I did too.
No comments:
Post a Comment