Miss Virginia
I was only six years old. But my mother told me that I should be
excited about starting school. So what did she know? In those days there were no pre- schools and
I always could do whatever I wanted to before. But mothers know best I suppose
so off I went. I was determined to not
like anyone there and especially the teachers.
I knew about them. They were all
old and ugly and carried paddles around in case one of us needed a swat on the
bottom. And with me that was often. And anyway I already knew all I needed to
know. So what was school all about anyway?
The first guy I met was Sut Corbet.
(That was his real name) He was around sixteen and still in the first
grade. Not too swift I thought. But Sut quickly became my best friend. He thought I was smart and nobody else had
ever thought that about me before. As
the year went by I helped Sut with the sticks (you know, those little things we
used to build boxes with) And if you don’t remember them that is all right
because Sut didn’t understand them either. It all worked out well for me,
though. I helped Sut in class and he
protected me on the playground. After all he was at least twice as big as any
other boy I went to school with. Someday I will write a long story just about
Sut but not now. This is about Miss
Virginia.
The first day in the first grade was
a day to remember. I was waiting to see what kind of monster would be our
teacher when this beautiful young girl came walking in. I thought she was another student, maybe
about the same age as Sut. She sure was
pretty but I thought must have been dumb to be in the first grade at her
age. My sister, who knew her, told me
that night that she was twenty-six and a college graduate. And she was going to
be our teacher. Wow! - A teacher who smiled all the time and didn’t even have a
paddle. She was kind and funny and loved
all of us. And she even made the first grade seem like fun. I guess Mom was right. Well then, she nearly
always was. From that day on I loved school, all because of Miss Virginia.
Each day we had a reading
session. And Miss Virginia would put us
in a circle and we took turns reading about Spot. You have probably already read it. It was about a dog that would run and stuff.
Not too good a book but we each got to sit in Miss Virginia’s lap when it was
our turn to read. Then she would always
give us a hug if we read well. I really
tried hard. Mom wondered why I loved school so much but my sister knew full
well. You see Miss Virginia was good to me.
So good in fact that I told her so.
I told her that I loved her. Only
that happened about forty years later. I
was already married with three sons when I wrote to her and told her how much
she meant to me. And as I wrote that
letter it occurred to me that it could have come from many, many other students
that she was so very kind to. And yes
she answered my letter. She said that
she even remembered me (probably because I helped Sut all the time) and she
remembered my sister, too. She told me all about her happy life and about her
kids and her wonderful husband. I felt
really happy when I read it and was especially thankful for her kindness to all
of us. There ought to be more people
like Miss Virginia.
A few years later I read in the
paper that she had died. I was not able to be there but I did get to talk to
someone who was. He told me that the place was full. It seems everyone who had
her in school loved her as I did.
Thank you,
Miss Virginia, for all you did for me and those many others!
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