Sometimes the Answer was There All the Time

I cannot think of anything that I could tell you, right now, that  would bring you more joy than becoming a teacher.  I am not even sure if there are 15 and 16 year olds that are reading these words,.  But if there are --become a teacher.  Haley, the little devil herself, will be working this year teaching English with my great friend Jessie,  How lucky those kids will be.  Haley will show up every day giving her best and then go home and start to think and plan how tomorrow can be better.  She will know each kid by name and then start to take more time.  She will learn  more about each student, so they can share a laugh or a favorite book.  It is sometimes hard to predict how the future will turn out, but I know what will happen in Haley's school,  because I have seen this one excel in every one of her actions for the last decade.  Mike Barry once fought to keep Haley in his car on the ride home from Biloxi. Why not? Who else would you want your young impressionable daughter to emulate?   Sidenote:  How stupid was it that a certain school in Webster lost out on this first round draft pick?     Their loss, west county's gain.                                        

Each day that I enjoy being a teacher,  I think of so many great kids that I have taught, each one of them is special in their own way.  They have grown up to be dentists and lawyers and physical therapists and nurses.  But oh . . . when they become teachers!!  There is an 8th grader in North West County somewhere that has no idea that, in just over a month, will meet their favorite teacher of their life.                                        

Each year lately I tell myself that I am going to have to make time to check in with a Detroit teacher nicknamed Country.  I first saw who she was when she crawled under a "house" on Wisteria Lane in Biloxi.  There was so much trash and debris under that house that I thought it may be a couple day project,  imagine my surprise when I came back at 10:30 and it was done.  So I do not know the whole story here, other than she is helping students that others sometimes forget in the city of Detroit.  I do know she has learned her selflessness from two wonderful parents who have helped improve the lives of people in St. Louis.  I can only imagine what is happening in her classroom.
                           
I have seen only one of my students teach and I am so happy that I took the long way home from Biloxi via Mobile to see Miss Hagerty amaze me with her questions and compassion in her classroom.  She was constantly asking questions that enhanced and brightened the learning of her students in a quick and challenging way.  Her classes were always moving and the students were keeping up,  mostly because they wanted to be a part of this wonderful learning parade.  As I left Mobile that day, I kept hearing tornado warnings on all of the radio stations.  They kept warning towns and counties, and I was screaming at the radio, " What highway? What mile marker.?"  As I drove uncertain into the Alabama day in the Smart Car, I all of a sudden was calm.  If my little red car got sucked into the cyclone,  I had gone out on a damn fine day.
                 
Sitting across from me in our Ugandan living room is Hayley.  She is small in stature but large in almost every way.  For some reason I am thinking about Mario, but she really does attack her passions by punching her fists in the air and jumping over turtles.  Julius, our Ugandan friend, has arranged for her to teach at a Ugandan primary school,  Favor of God.  Each day she exits ready for her next day.  I would love to see her teach in this setting, but a large white man is cause for much disruption and besides I can already picture the scene.

My mom prays for me all the time, usually to take on the employment struggles of the last couple of years.  I have joked that maybe they are going to have to change the words of the Memorare since we have prayed it together so often without "success".
                 
Mom, sitting in Uganda, I just figured it out Mary has been answering our prayers all along.  She just decided to do it  by bringing these people, these blessings into my life.  And she answered our prayers in such a bigger way.  As Father Boyle says we cannot begin to comprehend the infinite power of God.  So I think, Mary has answered our prayers in the best way possible by putting these wonders into the classrooms full of children.   Can there be a better answer?


Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided. 

Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. 

Amen.