It was a sad beginning to my teaching day. I had just learned of the unexpected death of a good friend, a man of 52. I put on the necklace he had brought to me from China and wearily rehearsed in my mind the scheduled field trip to the San Francisco Aquarium with the 28 children of room 5.
Great moms were at school with fueled autos ready. I gave them my "adult empowerment speech", heard it myself, and off we went.
I shared my sadness with the little group in my car. We had a few silent minutes and then it was good to be in the here and now, carefully watching the road and listening to their sharing.
The Cherry trees in Strybing Arboretum were in bloom and children stood under them, feeling the petals rain on their faces. One mother knew of the Shakespeare garden for a snack stop, and then I saw the hillside behind the aquarium and the daisies growing in the bright green lawn. I told how I'd rolled down hills like that in Griffith Park in L. A. when I was a little girl. "Could we roll down the hill?" someone asked as others had already started the climb. What fun! To Life! We joined hands and sang. Kalani's mom took some wonderful pictures. This is one of them -- an early spring day in 1986 It is my favorite picture.
I came upon the picture some six years into retirement. I remembered the day. Irepresents all I learned about life, joy and sorrow, beauty and delight in my fifteen years of teaching at Ohlone. Sue Kosis was my aide that year. The children made a quilt of pattern block designs and gave it to me. Sue had sewed it together and machine quilted it. Molly had said, when I was sad that the school year was over, "You can think of it like the quilt we made. We put something together and it will never come apart." Right now it's in the swing on my patio with each child's autographed design: Marissa, Chessa, Kalani, Katherine, Eric.
Joyce Bryson
Ohlone Teacher
1972-1987
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