Day 286: Retirement Party

Daily Blog Challenge Day 286/365

Two weeks ago, my husband's school had a Retirement party for their first grade teacher who is retiring after twenty years at St. Paul (she also taught in public schools for a few years before coming to St. Paul.)  I was fortunate enough to also work with her during my year at St. Paul and she is a wonderful teacher and an even better person.

During the party, a few parents came to the microphone and spoke about how she had impacted their children and their families in general.  People often talk about a person who you cannot find anything bad to say about and this teach is a prime example of this.  She is always smiling and always willing to help.  Many times the only way to prevent her from helping is to not ask her because she will always say yes.  She is also someone that has a good sense of humor and is able to laugh at herself.  One thing that was brought up often was her inability to keep a class pet alive.

Towards the end of the party she gave a short speech.  She is a wonderful public speaker even though she despises talking in front of groups of people.  She is also someone who clearly has her priorities right.  She continually mentioned God and she is very clearly an example of letting God's Love shine through his people.  There are many things about her that I hope to be able to copy.  She is a wonderful example of what it looks like to be a positive Christian and a great teacher.

Hearing these stories made me think about what people will say when I retire.  Granted I have only been teaching for five years and I have many years ahead of me (God willing), but what will they say at my retirement party?  What do I hope they say?

I hope they are able to say that I positively influenced and impacted my students, that I helped them grow and I helped instill life skills that led to future success.  I hope they say I was loving, cared about their children/family and that their children enjoyed their time in my classroom/playing on teams I coached.  I hope they say they learned a lot and that they have many great, funny and random memories.  I hope they will say that I was a religious person and that I shared the Love of God through my actions and words.

What do you hope people say at your retirement party?  What are you doing now to help make this a reality?  Thank you for reading.