Teachers...

Lately, as Abby is learning new things it brings back memories of when I was in school and my favorite teachers. I was one of those kids that LOVED school. From day one I loved it. Much of that was because I had the very best Kindergarten teacher a child could ever have. Her name was Miss Linnie Grice.

I will be 29 in a couple of days and I remember exactly what Miss Linnie smelled like. I remember that she kept her paddle (yes, teachers had paddles when I was younger) under a big stuffed puppy dog on top of the filing cabinet. I also remember Drell Rainey had more meetings with that paddle than I'm sure he ever wanted to. I remember at nap time on days when it was raining Miss Linnie would leave the door open and I would listen to the rain.

I remember a pair of monkeys Miss Linnie had above her door that said "left" and "right" and sometimes when I'm thinking really hard about something those monkeys pop into my head. I remember where her alphabet chart and counting chart were hung. I even remember that the bathroom in our classroom smelled like tempra paint.

I remember many times when we sat around the piano in her room singing fun learning songs as a class. I remember making butter in a Mason jar. I remember cleaning the glue off the tables with shaving cream....boy was that fun! Snack time was always fun, and whenever I have to take snacks anywhere for kids I think of Mrs. Ruby Hamilton's peanut butter Rice Krispy Treats. I also remember Miss Linnie making me taste a mushroom at some kind of taste testing thing we did and how gross it was. I still don't like mushrooms no matter how much I want to.

As I sit here thinking I am full of nostalgia and tears are likely at any moment. I can't think of any single bad memory from Miss Linnie's classroom. Well, unless you count one day when I had to stay in at recess to re-color a picture of a blue bird that I rushed through and scribbled on. I find it strange that I don't remember exactly which kids were in my class, although I remember Drell Rainey, Veronica Tolfree, and Vincent Stroud with perfect clarity. I mostly remember Miss Linnie and how much I loved her.

Thanks, Miss Linnie, for all the great memories!