My Mama came to My School.
{when i set out to choose a word for 2015, i realized some of my reflection would involve looking back, in order to move ahead. this story reminds me of endurance and i will share here, because i am doing something new, and want to take the word:”endure” with me as I travel along in 2015.}
Syracuse, NY circa 2005
But interestingly enough, I wasn’t in elementary school. At least not my own.
I was at a turning point, in my life. and just needed mom’s affirmation.
I was a social worker at Martin Luther King Jr. school and it was the last day.
As you can see, a picture is worth a thousand words. Mom’s pride is overflowing.
I am not sure it was all for me, though.
What you cannot see is the fun we had that day, and the people she met,
and all the people who said they were SO GLAD to meet her. My mama.
I had asked my mom to come, and she drove to Syracuse, from Rochester, without any adults,
( just my little nephew Chris, of course – whose rather large head is sticking up in the photo, here),
She brought to come see me. And I was leaving my ten-year-old job and moving to a new city.
I was taking a leap.
And my mama being there, meant SO MUCH to me.
You see, my mom was a schoolteacher. She was in the school district in Rochester, NY for about 28 years. And schools are where she belongs. Perhaps I love children so much , because of her, and decided to work with children and families for most of my career.
And for a while, I did too. But I had a ten-year cap. I didn’t want to work in schools past ten years. I knew by that time frame, I would desire to pursue a new destiny. And I was right. At the end of ten years all of sudden, something just shifted. I was contemplating relocating to Maryland. I had just gotten divorced. I felt like I had a new slate. It was time to begin anew. I didn’t want to be a school social worker anymore. I was already putting on leadership groups, visiting communal settings and running mentorship programs with the local college, and my principal was looking at me, like: ” But why aren’t you doing social work?” Little did she know, that was social work, just of a different kind. I had just come back from South Africa, & went over her head to get approval for the trip to be taken during the school year – and she was steaming, I might add – that I had even considered taking the trip, so… by the end of the school year 2005, I knew it was time to go.
My mom coming to my school that year was the icing on the cake.
Mom doesn’t quite know this, but she has always been the impetus for my leaps of faith.
Whenever I was ready to leap, mom was there cheering me on.
She always just showed up! And for that, I was very glad. But THIS day was pretty special. I was about to start a new chapter in my life. And this was the beginning.
So I remember my ending to a new beginning. And I was getting back to what it meant to be happy, for me.
And this was it.