To everything turn, turn, turn....

There is a season.....

Last night was a trip down memory lane.  We celebrated our 60th birthday at Madison Elementary, my school for many years.  Madison is one of those places that will always represent "home" to me for so many reasons.  It is where I found a bigger world and where at times, I almost drowned in one too small. But that is all part of growing up and that is what our public schools represent to us as Americans...a home, a fishbowl, an organization, a community....a place to grow and give, push and pull and hopefully, leave a little better for the next generation.

As I looked across the room and through the yearbooks last night, I saw a community spanning many years.  Kids danced, adults reminisced and there were hugs and dancing.  Funny this celebration comes at the end of a week when I have decided to transfer to another school for my next leg of learning.  Not because of anything negative or force, but because it is simply the season.  I can't say this transition is not bittersweet for there are many pieces of me in the walls of that building...the 10 year old fifth grader who moved from Durant, Oklahoma and found a much bigger multi-cultural world.  That girl who walked across the field every day trying to fit in with a group of kids who played soccer and spoke other languages.  The one who finally stood up for herself when people poked too hard and were probably simply trying to "figure her out" in her dress, funny twang and curled hair. The one who made friends with other girls from Nigeria and countries she couldn't pronounce. Yeah, that one.  She will always live there.  The young intern who worked in second and fourth grade classrooms, trying to develop the teacher inside of her.  The one who felt at home in Madison's strong walls.  Yep, she's still there...she fell in love with teaching there and was welcomed by mentors.  The fresh graduate hungry for her first job.  She was asked, "What is it you are looking for in a teaching position."  And she answered, "a place I can call "home".  She lives there.  The young professional who got to be part of something bigger than herself building a vision and working with a progressive and inspiring principal who knew how to share power and grow dreams.  She will always live there.  That same young professional who left to find other dreams and later returned to raise a family, to delve into her teaching pedagogy in new and deeper ways.  The one who got to be part of a team of professionals who grew together and grew their babies.  She lives and loves there.  The veteran who took some blows...who wished she didn't know better times when politics, funding crisis and corporate reform shook the walls.  She grew stretch marks there....yep, she lives there too.  She discovered perspective and found a foundation that will serve her well.  

She met new people and saw changes in the world and in her classroom.  She made new friends and mentors and found rooms in the building and outside the building that she didn't know existed.

Happy Birthday Madison.  I am proud to say I have known you in the 70's, 80's, 90's, 2000's, 2010's and you will forever represent both a parent and a child in my scrapbook of memories.  I got to be a child and a parent in your arms and with your people.  May you stand strong for many more years for many more children to learn and grow within your strong walls.  You are a very special place. You are