I am not easily surprised. When I turned 16, I planned my own surprise party. I addressed the invitations, planned out all of the food and what the cake would look like--chocolate cupcakes, actually, with green icing (my favorite color). I addressed the invitations (because evites and email didn’t exist), put a stamp on each envelope, and gave them to my mom who secretly slipped a note in each envelope saying that my party would actually be a week before the date of the invitation, and it was a surprise. On the day of my “surprise” party, my friend Norika stopped to talk to me before heading home from school. “Are you going to the dance tonight?” I asked her, referring to the school dance that evening.
“No,” she said, “but I hope you have a great birthday!” She then gasped and looked at me guiltily, knowing she had made a mistake in wishing me a happy birthday a week early. I looked at her strangely and headed home.I quickly changed my clothes and headed down the stairs to head over to the neighbor's house to babysit. “You’re wearing that?” my mother asked, referencing the jeans and sweatshirt I had changed into after school. Why did my mom care so much about my wardrobe? As I was babysitting that afternoon, I realized that I was headed home into my own birthday party I had planned. I had somehow put all of the pieces together to figure out the surprise. I, of course, acted surprised, and to this day my parents still do not know I figured it out.
I feel like I’ve been this way regarding surprises all of my life. I did not know the gender of my son when I was pregnant with him. Minutes before Jack was born, my husband (who did find out the gender ahead of time and kept it from me) announced loudly in the delivery room, “He’s almost here!” Again, the surprise was ruined--just minutes before Jack was born.
I have many more stories of such moments, and they all end the same way with me not being surprised. So, on Monday when my husband told me there was a surprise for me, I had no idea what it could possibly be. He drove me to the clubhouse at Ashcreek and outside stood Michael Patrick, Margaret Hill, and a brand new car. It was a moment that anyone would have been amazed by, but what took my breath away even more was what happened when the doors of that clubhouse opened and out poured students, friends, family, colleagues. People had taken time out of their day just to see this moment for me. I truly was in complete and utter shock. Most of you who know me well, know I hate to be the center of attention, so this moment goes down as one of the most overwhelming ones for me as well. Yet, it is one I will always remember. Later someone there told me he was surprised I didn’t cry. (Most people do know me well, especially those of you who witnessed my emotions at Atlee’s recent graduation). I can tell you I did cry when I got home and had the chance to catch my breath. It truly is a moment I will never forget.
The car from Michael Patrick of Patrick Buick GMC and the Hanover Education Foundation is an extremely generous gift. I don’t think I’ve ever been given a gift of this caliber, and the experience is still so surreal, but it’s not the car that I want to talk about but the people who showed up and were there, those who wrote me wishing they could have been there, and Mr. Michael Patrick and Mrs. Margaret Hill. I realized on Monday that there are some pretty amazing people in my life. To my colleagues, thank you for supporting me in my career every single day. I am grateful to have administrators who support me no matter what risk I take in the classroom and colleagues who I can share my joys with as well as my teaching struggles.
To my students, thank you for showing up--for showing up Monday, for showing up to class. I don’t mean physically showing up (you were required to do that, after all) but showing up with your sense of humor or your willingness to dominate a debate or excel in writing an essay. I mean your willingness to always be fully present. I mean the way you gave up an hour of your summer day to be there for me this week. I mean the way you thought to return. I think I've told many of you this before, but the hardest part about being a teacher is having to say goodbye to students and wondering if you'll ever cross paths with them again. So, when all of you came out of those doors, and stood in front of me, it was the ultimate surprise. I know it had only been less than two weeks since graduation, but the idea of you returning is one I always will cherish. I know you can't make any promises to return to room 211 to tell me what is happening in your lives, but know that if you do, I will be genuinely thrilled to see you there. I've run into former students in random places--in taking my exam for my National Board, at my husband's cousin's wedding, in the delivery room of Katie's birth...yet nothing beats the moment when a student chooses to return. So, thank you for coming out and returning this past Monday.
To Mr. Patrick and Mrs. Hill, thank you for your generosity--a generosity that everyone should emulate. Later that afternoon I walked into the showroom of Patrick Buick GMC, and Mr. Patrick led me into his office. On the wall behind his desk were eight frames--each donning the picture of one of his children. “I have eight children,” he told me.
“Eight?” I said in amazement.
“Yes. I apologize for not getting this car to you sooner. I was in China for a good portion of the spring adopting my daughter.” Mr. Patrick pointed to a picture of a girl on the wall. She makes number 8. Four of Mr. Patrick’s children are his biological children; four are adopted from China. Two of those girls have special needs. I realized in that moment what an incredibly generous man was standing in front of me. As he stood there apologizing for being “late” in gifting me a car, I stood there in awe of how much this man truly gets what’s most important in life. I started to tell him about our 1% movement and the importance of living 1% better (because you've inspired me to spread that movement everywhere I go), but I couldn’t get the words out without getting emotional so I stopped. Mr. Patrick is the epitome of this idea as is the Hanover Education Foundation under the direction of Mrs. Margaret Hill who made Monday possible. Mrs. Hill works tirelessly with local businesses to support teachers in Hanover County. I am an awe of her work and her constant generosity.
The rest of this week was somehow filled with surprises. For the girl who is rarely surprised, I got to the end not knowing what to expect next. Here are some of my other little surprises this week:
1. Sometimes we are so attached to our way of life that we almost miss an opportunity: I drove to the mountains near Harrisonburg this week to visit my husband who is working at a camp about 30 minutes past Harrisonburg and take Jack to camp up there. I am not a mountain girl by any stretch of the imagination despite the fact that I did get engaged climbing the same mountains I was visiting. I would rather put my toes in the sand and gaze out at the beautiful line the ocean creates at the horizon. I am a better person with a book, a beach chair and kids building a sandcastle by my side. That being said, I immersed myself in the natural beauty of the mountains this week. I somehow appreciated them more, and that surprised even me.
A view from the car Running in the mountains
2. Same Kids, Different Ages: This week I worked Vacation Bible School at my church. I have worked VBS for the past eight summers, most of the time, running the preschool program. I was teaching the three and four year-olds, and one of them stopped me in mid sentence and asked, “Do you know that I don’t like bananas?” The story I was telling had NOTHING to do with bananas. And I realized these three and four year-olds are not much different from all of you. Yes, you have different ages and maturity levels (for the most part….just kidding!) and yes, you have different interests, but both groups have a way of getting me off track when I’m teaching. You just ask different questions, but it’s the same course of action that occurs upon asking your question. I’m distracted and want to answer it and then realize we are so far away from what I initially set out to talk about in class. This similarity in teaching experience surprised me a bit, but at the same time it showed me that the age doesn’t matter in who I teach; I am a teacher because I love interacting with young people.
Me and some of my 4 year-old monkey friends.
Me and some of my 4 year-old monkey friends.
So, yes, this week was full of surprises...from my VBS experience to the new appreciation I now have for the mountains, I have surprised myself. I was surprised with a brand new car that sure does beat my dented 2006 mini van with 175,000 miles on it! Yet, what surprised me most of all this week is how I'm surrounded in life by people who care--whether that be the generosity of a local businessman, the kindness of those who work tirelessly for the Hanover Education Foundation, the compassion of my friends and family and colleagues, and the true faith my students have in me demonstrated by how they showed up on Monday. AHS graduate Timmy Shields had it right in his valedictory speech when he encouraged the Class of 2017 to surround themselves with the right people. I realized this week the right people always show up; they are always there. To all of the right people in my life: thank you for raising me up to stand on mountains and for surprising even me this week.
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