I think one of the strangest feelings is the realization that you have come full circle.
When I was in the 6th grade, I attended a little middle school in my home town. Reading, Writing, and Social Studies were chunked together with the same teacher in what was called 3-Hour Block. During that class, I sat next to my good friend "Sally" right by the teacher's desk.
Sally was a really fun, exciting girl. She had spent her whole childhood competing in those weird baby beauty pageants, and had even modeled and acted a bit. Holy smokes, she was (IS) totally gorgeous.
Now, fast-forward to high school. By some strange coincidence, Sally and at least three of her friends got pregnant our senior year. One of the girls was pregnant with TWINS, and her belly was so huge that it filled her entire graduation gown with no room to spare! They are all lovely girls and wonderful mothers.
Well, years later after I got my teaching degree and had taught in the south end of the valley for a while, I transferred over to work at the same school that I had once attended. It was surreal when I dragged my stuff into my new classroom, only to realize that it was the EXACT SAME room that I had sat in more than two decades before as a 6th grade student. To complete the bizarre experience, as I looked out at my own 6th grade class on the first day of school that year, I was gobsmacked to see little Sally’s face smiling at me from the group, just like she did every day when we were in 3-Hour Block together. It honestly stunned me speechless until it dawned on me that, young as Sally was when she got pregnant, her daughter was now already old enough to be a middle-schooler herself. And there she was, in my class, a perfect replica of my old girlhood friend.
I also have now taught many of my past teachers' children, and that's overwhelming. Talk about pressure! Here's a yearbook inscripton from a teacher whose daughter was in my class this year.
This is a yearbook message from my old 3-Hour Block teacher:
Dear Jessica- You are a delightful student and a wonderful person. I consider you a dear friend. I'm so glad to have seen your goodness over and over this year. Take good care of YOU. Come say "hello." Love, Mrs. S.
Another super strange part of working at my old school is that many of my former teachers haven't retired yet, so those mysterious, remote adults that used to say things like, "I'll wait for you to be quiet. I can wait all day," are now my peers. And I'm here to tell ya, they tell the dirtiest jokes in the faculty room. It's delightful.
Here's a few former teachers that I've taught with recently:
Have you ever had the strange experience of coming full circle? Tell us about it below! Write back soon- Jess
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