Oh Hi!
We spend so much time together in this newspaper column that I sometimes forget what I’ve shared with you, though I never forget what you share with me! Thank you for all of your emails!
What I can’t remember if I told you is: I went on a whim to go get my substitute teacher license. If you didn’t see that coming – neither did I!
That’s the story of my life. I’m of the persuasion that God just leads me to where I need to be. Maybe it’s because I let Him that I’m never let down – only wowed by it all.
I was certain my life was created to care for the elderly and I’m still certain of that. On and off for 20 years I’ve cared for them. This past autumn, I shared with a younger customer how I’m feeling like I’m supposed to be working with children for some reason. “Well, have you applied at the school?”
Through applying at the school, I learned the State of North Dakota is desperately seeking substitutes. I took the courses and passed. I did the FBI and BCI background checks complete with fingerprints and my license arrived. It’s official.
This past week I was in the all-day preschool class. I’d love to share what happened. The first day I arrived looking festive in red with a reindeer sweater. I stood by the classroom door as the little 4 and 5-year-olds entered. What happened next has my neck needing a chiropractic adjustment. I’m going to type all the questions that were asked as children stood around me – grabbing my arm for attention and trying to talk more loudly than their classmates.
“Who are you? What’s the red thing on your head. Do you like reindeers? Wanna know what? My dog died – the FedEx man ran him over. My uncle gave me pheasant wings. They’re magic golden wings. And guess what else? I have a real polar bear fur in my room but I can’t bring it for show-n-tell so you can’t see it. You look different than our teacher. I like your earrings. How did you get them in your ear? Teacher! He said a bad word! He said, “can’t.”
I took a deep breath and introduced myself the proper way. We played, ate breakfast, drank milk and cleaned up. It was time for recess. They all went to their lockers to put on their snowpants, boots, coats, hats, mittens, scarves and hats. One little precious girl was crying her eyes out at her locker. I squatted down to ask her what was wrong? “My waterproof mittens don’t match,” she said as I thanked God they were waterproof for how many tears were falling!
I said, “Oh sweetheart, guess what? It doesn’t matter that they don’t match because we’re just going to be making snowballs today anyway.” To which she countered in a howl that would make coyotes jealous, “You don’t understand! I can’t make snowballs when my mittens don’t match! I CAN’T go out for recess!”
I then understood that she had no desire to go out at all. So, much to her dismay, I found the “emergency mitten, scarf and hat stash.” In it was a pink pair of perfect, waterproof mittens. They worked splendidly. I could tell by the snowball she threw at me.
We ate lunch when one little boy proclaimed, “You’re the best teacher I ever had!” What a way to melt my heart! At nap time they took out their cots. Out of one corner of the room I heard a whisper, “Miss Jodi? Can you rub my back?” Back rubbing. That’s all it took. After I escaped for a quick lunch, I came back to the room. The kids were waking up. The same little boy was packing up his cot, sheet and blankie when he said, “You’re the best teacher I ever had. Hey Jamie. Isn’t she the best teacher we ever had?” Jamie nodded, “Yes.”
I giggled internally thinking, “They’re in preschool – how many teachers could he have had to compare me to?” Ha! The first day ended. I was assigned the same room yesterday. I stood by the door as the school bus dropped off the littles. The little dumpling who kept calling me the best teacher he ever had came around the corner yelling, “Miss Jodi! Miss Jodi! I made something for you!” Before he even had his coat off – he reached into his backpack and presented me a very colorful coloring book picture of a lizard.
“It’s a dinosaur! I made it pretty for you!” It is a definite lizard but from this point on – it’s a dino! I’m going to put it in a box and hopefully regift it to him on his high school graduation day. The day was filled with huge, imaginative learning. At recess, I sat on the merry-go-round with ten of the children while four others pushed us. We sang Christmas carols as we got our tummies in a turmoil from all the spinning!
We ate lunch and pretended the broccoli were trees. I needed help “pruning” the trees and most all of them took a bite. Children will eat their vegetables, I learned, if you make eating vegetables fun! Picky eaters at this age will eat anything if you put the food on the fork and pretend like it’s an airplane waiting to crash land in their mouths! One little fella said, “Can you make mine a diesel truck and have it crash in my mouth?”
Rice and Chinese chicken will have to be removed by the jaws of life for all those crashes. I’d do it once and have them take a bite themselves to keep them independent. Nap time came again and most of them were sleeping more soundly than I do on my best night. One little girl lying on her cot opened her eyes. In the dark of the room filled with four and five year old’s she whispered, “I love you, Miss Jodi.” You likely saw the illumination of my heart all the way up in Devils Lake!
Then she asked in the same whisper, “Miss Jodi? If I close my eyes and go back to sleep, will you still be here when I open them again?” “I promise,” I assured her. And I was. My coat had been hanging on the outside of a free locker in the same row as their lockers. My day of blessing had ended. I reached for my coat. I started walking up the hall of the school to the exit. I reached in my pocket to grab my keys and instead I grabbed a peanut butter cup some little preschool elf had left me. I will cherish my lizard dinosaur – forevermore. I’ve never gone into a profession unless I was led. God is so groovy like that. By the way – I’m old. But not too old to be led.
Memorize that last sentence! I can’t wait to hear what you’ve been led to! You could be led to a lizard dinosaur like me!
The Blonde on the Prairie is a lover of ND. She is an author and motivational speaker, owner of “Monkey Balls” food truck and Joyologist to the elderly and disabled and, now, to children wherever she is needed.
