The End of an Era

I started this post ten days ago…

Today I taught preschool for the last time ever. I have been part of a preschool co-op since Sam (13) was two! For years my friends and I took turns teaching our children. We had lessons about everything from bugs to dinosaurs to the five senses (that was a fun one!). In Virginia a large part of our teaching was field trips to downtown D.C. and other fun places. It was an essential and regular part of our lives because as young mothers we needed each other! Not to mention the benefit to our kids of learning to interact peacefully with other children. I will always cherish the sweet interactions I have had with my friends and their adorable children. Today, on the last day I was telling a story with a puppet and one of the cute boys excitedly said to me, “I LOVE your stories!” I felt so warm and fuzzy remembering that story telling has always been something I enjoy and glad that it has brought pleasure to the children I have taught. I remember even as a teenaged babysitter I often made up long elaborate stories for the children I watched. Also today, one of the children who has been the most aloof of the group, really wanted me to understand something he was trying to tell me so he put his two little hands on my face and looked at me right in the eye and told me the important thing. These are the connections and the experiences that make a rich, full life. These heart connections cannot be replicated in any other way than by taking the time to make them.

I love the memories I have as a preschool mom/teacher. I thought I would be sad at the idea of being done with this phase of life…but I’m not! So far, I am just so excited for the next phase. Anna is so excited for kindergarten! I am excited to be at the school more, to have some time to myself, to spend one day a week at the temple. Recently I was talking about the time I would have once all the kids were in school and I exclaimed, “Think of all the cleaning I could do!” Grant (knowing me well) corrected me by saying, “You mean, think of all the reading you could do?!?”

The following are some photos of the years of teaching. Sadly, there aren’t any of just Lizzie’s group. (Typical of a second child’s experience right?!)