20 years from now...

I handed my daughter a tarnished brass ornament engraved with her name, as my husband took pictures of our family.  Our Christmas tree might be a little small, and it certainly wasn’t elegant, but to me, it was the most beautiful tree in the world.  I reached in a box and pulled out a snowman ornament.  Neatly written on the bottom were the words, “Thank you.  Love, Leah.”  She had given it to me last year for Christmas.  Such a beautiful smile.  She still stopped by my room from time to time to give me a hug and just to chat.  Last year hadn’t gone well for her.  She’d had many a cry in my classroom after school. The tree sparkled with memories…. 1

“John, please sit down, Tara, turn around, stop talking, the bell has rung, get out your homework, John, I said to sit down, shhhh, please pay attention, all eyes up here on me, Kristen, why are you not in your chair, all right that’s it!”  I exclaimed, slamming my hand on my desk and standing up.  ‘Oh dear, I’m turning into Mrs. Buffaloe.’ I thought of my high school history teacher.  “People!” I said, exasperated.  “I do not like to yell, but you are just pushing all the right buttons today.  Please be quiet, we have a lot of material to cover.  First of all, tell me what you read last night?”  2

I waited for a few seconds, and Michael spoke up, “Um, we read about WWI.”  3

“Good!” I said, “Some tell me something more specific.”  4

“They killed that duke guy.”  5

“Archduke Francis Ferdinand.  What else?” I asked them.6

“There’s the allies and the Central Powers.”7

“Can anyone tell me who’s on which side?”8

After a few minutes, I had determined that at least most of them knew what was going on in the reading.  “So now let’s talk about something interesting,” I said.  “Anyone pick up on anything interesting with the Battle of the Marne?”  Blank expressions.  Typical.  “Come on, guys!  What happened in the Battle of the Marne?”  Nothing.  “This is where the Germans were stopped in their advance against France.  The French almost didn’t win either.  Okay, so there’s this guy, Joseph Joffre, who’s in charge of the French army.  Then there’s this other dude, Lord Kitchener, who’s forbidden the British Expeditionary Army to leave the French army.  So, Joffre wants the British to go to the coast, but Kitchener won’t let him, so they all end up at the Marne River, which is kinda near Paris.  So there they are, fighting the Germans, and things aren’t looking so great for the allies, so what happens?  They send for reinforcements.  Only they need them NOW!  Do you know how they get them to the frontlines?  TAXICABS!”  A few giggles.  “Good, I guess you all are still conscious… yes, they send about 6000 guys in taxis up the front lines!  Then the Germans had all these communications problems so no one knew what was going on, and the Germans were ordered to retreat.  And so then they dug some trenches and they were pretty much stuck.  So, then….”9

By the end of class, we’d made it through a good portion of World War I.  “Class, test Friday, and remember, it’s on what I say in class as well as what’s in your book that I didn’t go over.  When you go to college, they are not going to be reading your test to you beforehand or going over everything that’s on the test, so it’s time you guys get used to it in this class!  Now get on out of here, and don’t forget to do your reading tonight!”  I yelled the last part over the bell.10

After school, a head poked through my door.  “Hey.” Leah said.  11

“Hey, Leah, come on in.  What can I do for you?”12

“Well, I was wondering if I could talk to you.” 13

“Sure.” I told her.  Leah came in and sat down, looking positively miserable.14

“Hey, Leah.  What’s up?”  I asked, concerned.15

Leah paused and then replied, “Well, I’m um… I’ve… well, I’ve got a lot of stuff going on right now and I’m just kinda stressed out and well, um, I kinda hurt myself.”  She pulled up her sleeve to reveal several scratches.  16

I nodded and put my arm around her.  “Will it help to tell you I did that too at one time?”  She looked at me, amazed.  “But it’s not the answer, sweetheart.  It doesn’t fix anything.  Let’s talk about it.  Why did you do it the first time?”  I’d had this conversation so many times, starting back with several friends in high school.  But I’d been on the other side of this conversation as well, and I wasn’t about to treat it like a science, where I just said the right things and everything was better.  Here before me was an individual young lady who was hurting.  17

Two hours and several good cries later, we left my classroom, and I walked her to her car.  “Now you give me a call if you ever need to talk, you hear me?  Even if it’s 2 in the morning, you call me.”  I insisted.  She nodded, smiling a little, and waved goodbye.  18

A tug at my sleeve suddenly brought me back to reality.  I stared at the snowman in my hand for a minute and then smiled and bent down.  “Yes, honey?” I asked my daughter.  “Help me put this one near the top, Mommy,” she said, holding up a bell.  “Okay,” I said, lifting her up.  Setting her back down, I realized I still had the snowman ornament in my hand.  I smiled again, thinking of Leah, and placed the snowman on a high branch.19