Tuesday, November 13, 2012

remembering Peggy

The world lost a very very special person last weekend.  My friend and former teaching partner Peggy passed away after a long and incredibly graceful fight against cancer.  She was an amazing person, so full of life and positive energy.  I've been remembering all that made her unique, especially these things:

She found so much joy in kids and teaching.  She reminded me so often to lighten up and laugh with the kids.  We would swap classes because I taught math and she taught writing.  Most days as we switched back, she would have some funny story about what one of my students said or what they had written.  When she would make a point to read a kid's writing to me after class, the child would just BEAM because she made him/her feel so special.  I love this picture from one of our school events, it was so cute how she helped the kids read since we didn't have a microphone:


She always knew the perfect books to recommend to kids, especially the ones who were having difficulty reading.  Kids would return to her classroom after second grade to borrow books from her huge library.  I would often hear her discussing what they'd read and what they might like to read next when they would stop by after school.  She recommended many books to ME also!  I found one of my all-time favorite authors because of one of her suggestions!

Her knitting skills were top-notch--she knit this beautiful sweater for Henry.  Grandpa Mike would be so impressed that Henry has his own track-hoe sweater!  I can't wait until he's big enough to wear it (which, I know, won't be long). 
 I'm going to miss talking with Peggy about knitting, reading, teaching, and kids.  But I have so many fond memories of her, and the way she endured her illness with such a positive attitude will always make me more positive, too, in the hard times (I promise).  Love you, Peggy!

1 comment:

Dressler said...

Awww - she's in my heart today! Love your tribute to her. XO