A Personal Connection

I will never forget my first day of school in the fifth grade. Once again I was the new girl in town. I didn't know anyone and no one wanted to know me. The cliques were tight, consisting of cousins, best friends and acquaintances. I had no idea how I was going to fit in there.

As I walked under the covered walkway, past the beautiful baseball field, the fact that I was in a completely foreign place sunk in. I couldn't believe it. I still remember thinking to myself: why does school end at 3:40 here; that's soo... late, why do the teachers let you have drinks at your desk, where are the rows of desks and why...WHY...why do I have to sit in a little group with these silly white girls?

This new environment was too much for me. The only thing that helped me deal with all of these things was my teacher, Mrs. B. She was an older white woman with warm, sparkling blue eyes. They were huge and looked like peach pits.

Mrs. B treated us like real people, not just students. Unlike most teachers I had encountered, she was willing to listen and interact with us in a genuine way.

I'll never forget the stories she told about her family and her children. I felt so lucky to be worthy of her time and love. She told us about how she dealt with her two daughters when they went through puberty, how her daughter got a flower seed suck in her nose and how much she loved her life.

The personal connection that she created with us was pure and unique. When I moved on to the sixth grade I still went back to visit her. She'd give me gifts and tell me how her daughters were (this woman told me so much about her daughters that when I was at the Bite of Seattle I recognized her daughter just by the description I had of her in my mind based on the information that Mrs. B had shared with me).

I still regret losing track of her. Around my eight grade year, she moved to another school that was too far away from my home, so I couldn't visit. If I could, I would track her down just to say hi to her and tell her that I still have the teddy bear and the memories she gave me 10 years ago.

-- Kristus McCummings