Past Meets Present

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  Peter, Sheldon, Lynn, Liz, Amy, me, Debbie, Kare, Angie, Donna, Mary Ellen and Deb

I was in the backyard, helping dump ice into the cooler, when I heard a car pull up. I looked up and saw that said car had stopped in the road right in front of my house. The door opened and, from a distance, I knew who had arrived. I knew exactly who had arrived. I ran. I ran through the garage and right towards her. We met in the driveway. We threw ourselves at each other. We stood there, at the end of the driveway, giddy, and in disbelief at the reality of the moment. We stood and chatted, Billy came and more hugs ensued.

No sooner was there a pause in our reunion, that Peter came walking up the hill and stopped in his tracks when he saw Karen. Instantly, his eyes widened, a smile grew. Another reunion. More hugs. Slowly, the past began to trickle into the present — (Angie, Donna, Sheldon, Liz, Deb, Lynn, Debbie, Mary Ellen). With every arrival, more hugs, more laughter, more hugs. It was like a page from The Relatives Came.

As the night drew to a close, and the crowd faded, Jess (fellow slicer, colleague, friend) and Karen finally stood near each other. Time for introductions. “Jess, this is Karen, Karen this is Jess. Karen, you two would be friends. Jess loves all things literacy!” I proclaimed. Karen’s immediate response, “Well, we’re already friends, if you love her, then I love her!” I stood there between them both, bridging my past and present.

This past Friday, I had the pleasure of hosting a retirement party for a dear colleague (and fellow slicer, Peter) at my home. Lucky for me, I have worked with Peter since I started teaching 28 years ago. So his retirement brought people together from not only his past and present, but mine as well.

All these people, current teachers, retired teachers, far away teachers all were drawn by an invitation to celebrate a retirement. In the end, I think we did more than celebrate Peter, we celebrated each other and the lasting relationships that have withstood the test of time.

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  Jess Carey and
  Donna Skolnick

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  Deb, Angie, Karen, and Liz

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  Me and the one who raised me as a teacher, Karen Ernst daSilva