I have a horrible memory. I blame it on pregnancy, children and the past 18 years since I became a we and not just me, (however, dang was just me fun).  Yet, I do have a vivid recollection of all my teachers in elementary school! This post is for them.

Midvale Elementary
Kindergarten. Miss Vigil. She liked reminding me that I was nothing special in very subtle ways. It's amazing I loved to go to school anyway. Who couldn't love it? Who from Midvale Elementary could not love the long slide that was clearly dangerous even before Jesse fell off of it, from the top.

1st grade. Miss Acosta. (shoot Midvale Elementary, you were progressive before your time.) She smiled. She was smart. She was fair. She taught us about American History. I was certain I was Navajo after that section. I was so in love with Joe M., he is Navajo.

2nd grade. Mrs. Miller. She read funny stories about a dolphin named Duso. He was a puppet who helped children with life lessons. When she gave an answer to anyone's questions, like," Mrs. Miller,
do I put my books in my desk?" She would respond, "yes, please do so." It would always make me laugh. We painted with that chalky paint like it was nobody's business too. I loved her class.

3rd grade. Mrs. Conder. She was patient. A little older like Mrs. Miller. She was probably as old as I am now.  Ancient. She let us bring almost anything to show and tell.  Patient, I tell you.

East Midvale Elementary
4th grade. Ms. Curly. She wore funny glasses. She introduced me to poetry in a more meaningful way. Every week we had a new poem to copy from the board. She would let us decorate those poems anyway we wanted.  She was also the teacher I ran to after discovering that my cat had died, but I was already on the bus. By the time I made it to her class she let me fall into her arms and cry my little 4th grade heart out. She consoled me, and let me grieve long enough until the bell was about to ring. It's making me tear up now! A teacher hugging it out with a child in the most innocent way. 

5th grade. Mr. ummm...hmmm...tall guy, balding, skinny, and then came Ms. Lisonbee. Young, hip, Farrah Faucett hair, only dark brown, and blue, blue eyes. She liked the girls that wore trendy clothes. I wore cute clothes, just not expensive ones. I once told her that the cinnamon gum I was chewing was aspirin gum just in spite of her.  She dismissed me,often, and once made me go to the library to write 100 times that I was sorry for whatever infraction she thought I had caused. It wasn't me. I went to the library and wrote 100 times ' I will not be sorry for something I didn't do' left the sheets of paper on the library table, walked strait out the door and went home a whole hour or so before school even was out. Rebel. I never was reprimanded for that.

Then I went to the cruel world of middle school for 4 long years. 

I learned many things academically at school. It fascinates me that what I learned I grasped not just because of the daily lesson, but because of how my teachers made me feel;  safe, trusted, and validated. In the end, it's in that environment that I learned the most, and still do.