Words of Wisdom from a Retiree

Two of my teaching mentors are retiring this year; one is a beloved reading teacher and the other a gifted special educator. Below are the parting words from one that really touched my heart:

Dear Friends:

 

Thank You ALL for the words of encouragement, well-wishes and lovely thoughts written on the frame of the photo montage. It will hang in a very special place once I move into the new ‘residential placement’ which is a parsonage in Dickerson.

 

I have learned that each school community is truly a family. We belong to one another for a time and then, like the little birds, must fledge and begin a new chapter in life, complete with challenges, trials and adventures. The good news is that it is our family which has imparted the strategies to be drawn on in striving to overcome and surmount the bends, twists, the various bumps , mountains and deserts on our journey.

 

The last three years have provided some of my biggest challenges in working with students. Though they were dear, the day to day issues presented more opportunities for a ‘best seller’ than I care to remember. (Although a few  have already served as sermon lessons!) The only way I’ve been able to persevere has been through visioning  future goals and LEANIN’ on each of you. Whether you know it or not, each encounter, however brief, has provided a nugget of strength to go the next step, the next minute, or the next period of the day. You have been treasured!

 

I close now with the hindsight that I came here six years ago ‘for such a time as this’. I leave now affirmed that I encountered each of you ‘for such a time as this’. I challenge each of you to be open to the moments you are called into ‘for such a time as this’.  Be well until we meet again J