Legacy

May is Mother's Day, a time when we celebrate our moms and and all they have given us. Teachers and mothers have a lot in common. Our children and our students are our legacy. There is much more to being a mom than the pain of childbirth. We teach our children and we learn life lessons from them. The same is true in the educator /student relationship. We teach and we learn and we enrich our collective lives. We watch our students and our children grow and mature. We are invested in each one.

There are times of pain, times of struggle, times of joy, and times to celebrate. Whatever the journey, we travel it together. We are a part of each other's legacy.

I had a teacher in elementary school that, at the time, I was very afraid of. In retrospect it had more to do with my own fear and shyness than with anything she did or said. After I published my first book, she wrote me a letter telling me how proud she was of me. I still have that letter even though she is no longer alive. It reminds me that anything I have accomplished in life could not have been done without the people who shaped me. I am a part of their legacy and they are a part of mine.