And so there I was on the first day of Kindergarten with my new best friend Andy Carlson, standing in line with all the other new students waiting to board that gigantic yellow bus. I remember my heart skipping many beats as we journeyed to Riverside school, which was five miles away in Lindsborg, KS. What will school be like? Will I make new friends? Will they like me? How will I know what to do? How will I know where to go? Do I know how to share? Sometimes I forget to flush. Will I always remember? What will my teacher be like? Will she understand if I make mistakes?
I don’t remember how any of these initial questions were answered in Kindergarten. Apparently, other than my first experience on the bus, Kindergarten was not memorable. My Kindergarten teacher was Mrs. AlIen. Sandy Allen is a woman who has been a part of my life since before I can remember. Sandy taught me many things during my lifetime and I still greatly admire her today. Truth be told, Sandy may not have taught me much about “school” per say, but she has always served as a teacher of life lessons and those are what I continue to hold in high regard.
Sandy Allen grew up on a farm a mile outside of Lindsborg, where she still lives today. She loves her animals, including geese, cows, ducks, chickens, cats, dogs, and hosts of others that have shared her home and land. The relationship she has established with her animals has always been very endearing to me. One of the life lessons I learned from Sandy was that animals are much like people; they all have their own unique personality and that sometimes it just takes a while to find it. And on her farm, all the animals have names and stories to go with them. She has always been a talented storyteller. She loves to laugh and always has a way of telling stories that have the listeners laughing with her. Every one who has ever known Sandy knows exactly what she thinks of them (her self-proclaimed reason for having been divorced three times). One person that loves Sandy’s stories and laugh with her is my own mother with whom she has been a best friend with for more than 35 years.
Through the years, my mother and Sandy have both taught me about friendship. They celebrate each other’s successes with recognition. They laugh at themselves and at each other. They have cried through the perils of life and raising kids. They always find a way through their conversations to make the best of any situation. They believe in each other. These qualities are what I feel I have been able to attain with my own best friends and for this I thank the relationship displayed by Sandy and my mother, and the affect it has had on my life.
Because Sandy speaks fluent Spanish, many years ago our families went to Mexico together and she served as our translator. In the process, my interest and understanding of Mexican culture was enhanced through the people we met. I learned what a wonderful experience traveling can be when you can experience it through the native languages. Without knowing it at the time, this was the beginning of the path that led to my desire to travel the world and experience different cultures and languages. Years later, this early curiosity helped set the course for my career as a flight attendant.
Another life lesson Sandy taught me is that knowledge is independence. She has always believed that the more knowledge you have, the less you need to lean on people for the “little” things in life. She still says, “If you don’t know something look it up. If something is broken, learn how to fix it.” She is the type of person that will read a book about plumbing and try to fix the garbage disposal before she would ever call a plumber. She will read a book about cars and try to fix ignition switches before she would call a mechanic. When I was little, I asked her what the word “fickle” meant. Not but two seconds after I had asked did she have me looking the word up in a dictionary. This has always been her way, and something I have adopted in my own life.
Sandy was a Kindergarten teacher for just two years, but later found her calling teaching higher-grade levels. During her first year with this age group she recognized she had had a difficult time getting her point across. She easily tired of tying shoes, zipping zippers, and repetition. She wondered if it was she or the students in her class. During the second year of teaching Kindergarten it became more and more clear that this was not the age group for her. She decided to take a few years off, but returned to teaching when ESL teachers were mainstreamed into the public schools. As I begin my own career in education, I am once again amazed at the life lessons I have learned from Sandy. Through the experiences Sandy has passed on to me, I know that I must take time to allow for reflection and self evaluation, and view myself through the eyes of my students – working to answer my own questions. I have had those teachers who continue careers in education, but lack needed connections with each of their students and themselves. Sandy’s experiences have made it apparent to me that I need to continue to listen to my own questions and objectives in order to assess, grow and develop professionally.
Sandy has a wonderful spirit and no matter where I go, I can always hear her giggle. When she laughs the world laughs with her. More important, she laughs most often at herself. This is the part of her that I consider one of her greatest attributes. I have learned from her that no matter how difficult life can be you can get through it as long as you can laugh at yourself.
That first day of Kindergarten is one I will never forget. And funny enough, a lot of the questions that I had asked that day are the same ones that I will be asking on my first day as a new teacher. What will school be like? Will I make new friends? Will they like me? How will I know what to do? How will I know where to go? Do I know how to share? Sometimes I forget to flush. Will I always remember? What will my teacher be like? (Well, the other teacher) Will she understand if I make mistakes?
Lucky for me, I know that even if these questions are not answered, I have learned some of the most valuable life lessons from my own Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Sandy Allen.
-- Tasha McGinn, American University