A Teacher

This morning I had the opportunity to sit down with a woman, formerly only known to me as Miss Winter.  Miss Winter was my 6th grade teacher, many more years ago than I would to like to admit, at Kratz Elementary.  In 1977, Miss Winter worked magic in a classroom of about 25 students and after all my schooling was complete, she was the one teacher I looked back on and said, "She was my favorite." 

My memories of that year include small snippits of a teacher with a gift of storytelling, I remember ending the days sitting on the floor as she sat in a chair and read to us, a room crammed full of stuff (seems she collected things and had lots on the walls and shelves), I can picture the hallway and door to "her room" and should I walk into that school today would be able to find it in a snap. Maybe I remember this year because it was my last year of elementary schooling?  I look back at the photo of kids in the class that year and know that a lot of them are on Facebook, but only have one of them as my friend.  Valerie, who I learned just a few weeks ago, also said Miss Winter was her favorite.  So maybe this was a great year, or maybe we just had a great teacher!  I think it is both!

There I am smack dab in the center a whole 11 years old!  Miss Winter is at the top right.  I wish I would've asked someone at the Bread Co. this morning to take our photo together today!  Let's just say, we both look exactly the same!  I, now at 44, only have a different hairstyle - the bangs have grown out and match the length of my hair (which remarkably is about the same length and color now - thank you Clairol).  Miss Winter, if I could switch out her long black hair and replace it with a short crop of white hair, hasn't aged a day either! :)

What did I learn today?  I learned Miss Winter, who I shall now refer to as Sue, is pretty darn special.  Sue retired in 2006 due to a severely broken leg.  Some retirees take this time to slow down others just the opposite.  As far as I can tell, she is the opposite.  She is now preparing for an all girls summer camp down in Ironton that she got the go ahead for this past year.  The camp sounds awesome!  Like nothing I have ever heard about before.  It's for girls ages 7-17, but get this it is for older women too!  Yep, she is combining these young campers with an older generation.  Said she was gonna first refer to them as the "grannies" but decided "Silver Scouts" was a better idea.  The Silver Scouts will get the only air conditioned cabin and will be matched with a group of girls.  The girls will be from "underpriviledged" homes (those who couldn't afford other camps and those new to the United States).  In Missouri, we have a huge influx of refugees from places like Nepal, Bhutan, Kenya, etc and Sue is bringing people involved with these types of groups together to get these new young girls involved as well.  She helps lead a woman's conference in the fall.  In my opinion, she is a mini-ministry on foot, sharing in her deep love of Christ.  Her laugh and smile is honest!  She has a zeal for life and mentioned more than once that her mind goes a lot faster than her body these days, so has learned the hard way to slow down a bit. 

During our talk, it was discovered we both share a love for a good meal of Indian food.  So it's decided the next time we meet we are heading to Priya. 

I am so glad that I took our chance meeting back in December and took the next step.  There's something unique an "older" friend can share.  Not saying she is "old" as she is merely 19 years my senior, but I think I could learn a thing or two.  Here's to new friends!