it feels good to be remembered.
January 29th, 2010 at 12:40 pm. Posted in Just Rachel.Before I worked in real estate, way back when I was still a struggling college student, I was a teacher. In order to help pay off my loans quickly, I enrolled in a few extra classes and received my Child Development Associate Certification which allowed me to teach full time in a group preschool setting. My first teaching job was at a Montessori school in a little church. I worked there for three years, it was by far my most favorite job ever. I loved everything about the Montessori method, I adored the children and the parents were amazing. (My boss was a complete and total wench, but that’s a whole different story) Those kids, they were my life for three years. I worked there from 7am – 3pm every day and went to classes every night from 4:45 – 9:45pm. Hard? Of course, but that job made it all worth it.
I have this uncanny ability to remember faces and names, so i’ve run into a few of the kids i’ve taught here and there around town, but neither them or their parents recognized me or said anything. I never minded, it was seven years ago that I taught them and not everyone is a freak like me and can remember faces for almost a decade. But today, I had to run into the local Jr. High to drop something off. I was just about to walk back out the door when the secretary looked up and called my name. I turned around and she was like “I thought that was you, I’m Jack’s mom!” Whoa. I taught him when he was four and five and he’s now in the fifth grade. She remembered me. I told her I was surprised and her reply? “You shouldn’t be, you really made a difference in my little boy’s life.”
As I turned and walked out the door, tears were welling up in my eyes. It was all worth it for that one sentence.
I love nothing more than when parents or students visit or remember me—those stories make me want to go to work every day.