Do I Miss It?

i am constantly running into former students out in public, occasionally i meet up with a former colleague. the first thing they want to know is how do i like retirement? Good question.
I ran into my good best friend and colleague Jim Fort at puckett's yesterday morning when sarge and i were on our way to breakfast. we hugged like brothers, which in a way we are. the first words out of our  mouths were, "do you miss it?" we had to stop and think about the answer.

i miss starting my day off in my room at six in the morning drinking coffee and having breakfast with fort. here we solved all the problems of the world and discussed school business and other subjects, some school and some not. i miss seeing my kids get off the bus and greeting each one as they walked through the door. i miss the bus drivers. i miss lance evans the administrator who worked on the bus ramp with me, i miss the duke and they myriad of SROs who spend every morning with me for two decades. Marc Craig, i miss you the most. i miss our dialogue. Rachel, Tracey, and Tonjia, you will never know how much i miss you. the baker elementary kids, Morgan being in the very first group, i miss you all so much it makes my heart hurt. the bakers kids all had parents who worked at CHS and we put them on a bus to school every morning. they became my kids. sambo i miss dollar day and molly i miss your antics. morgan i miss watching you, crystal and becky come across the field, stopping mid way to take your shoes off. i  miss bring okra and tomatoes to the girls in the English wing. Chloe, Liz and Cora, i miss you all so bad i can't stand it. Lance i miss our discussion s about history and politics. Tammy i miss hearing that Elvis has left the building, Roger White, i miss your optimism. you are a teacher's teacher, never forget that. Bill Wade, i miss you sitting in your truck eating a biscuit and listening to the radio. i miss your wisdom, i miss you like i miss my father. i am still bitter about you leaving this earth so soon. you wisdom benefited many of us long after you went to be an angel. Marty Avery, i miss your serious approach to humor and the hours of conversation, and Uncle David Walker, i can not begin to tell you how much i miss you. thank you for being there for morgan the day she lost it in class. one horrible day i do not ever plan to repeat. Veneta Moore Jarnigan, Miss Mo. you were my sister and morgan's other mamma. Nuff said on that one young lady.
pride, i have a lot of that. Jenny Garland, Drew Norman, Becca Carter, Becca Witherow, Jeff Loveless, you were my babies, my students and before i cashed in,,you were my colleagues. i am so proud of the fine adults and teachers you became. you made a difference in  my life and you are still making a difference in the lives of thousands of kids who you will meet and teach in your career. Theresa Brown, my third grade buddy from glencliff elementary school in good old Flatrock. i could never have found a better person to spend a career with. i have loved that famous lindsey smile since JFK was in the white house. god bless you all.

do i miss the BS? not one dog gone bit. Our profession is the most noble of all professions, every one has to have a teacher. even those who pass laws about education had to have teachers. i do not miss those who want to improve education at the cost of teachers and students. i do not miss, nor do i like those individuals who want to tell my colleagues how to teach, and yet these people have never taught. the teachers, the differences makers are not the PHD (piled high and deep)  in education. it is the teacher, the administrator who works long days and nights, comes in when they are sick and passes up opportunities to work in other fields that pay a lot more money. i do not miss the evaluations designed by someone who as my uncle smokey grover did not know their asses from deep center field. i knew it was time to go last year when a big makher from the center office started ranting about how may more test we were going to have and how things were going to change, i looked at fort sitting next to me, told him the woman was meshugge. he agreed. when she started again with the next year things are going to change, fort and i looked at each other and said, "NO,"we knew then that our inservice days were coming to and end Mazel Tov.