Through The Wardrobe

This is another picture from that snowy day back in January of 2008. When I look at this picture there is one thing I think of...Narnia.

Is it just me?

When I was little, my grandparents, or aunt, or someone had the original set of movies. You know, the one where the acting as pretty bad, the budget was low, and Mr. Beaver's costume was well, interesting? Yep, that one.

That's the Narnia I loved. Then, I found out there were books. As soon as I was old enough to read (came late...I was 8 before I could do it very well), my Mom bought me the whole set of books.

Once I could read, I enjoyed reading, but I never was a reader. I've had those books for a long time and I still haven't read all of them.

I read The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe first. A few years later, in the fourth grade, my teacher LOVED reading. She read to us every day after lunch recess and required us to be working on a book at all times.

So, that year, I started my first day of school with "The Magician's Nephew" packed in my backpack. I wrote about my summer and I wrote about the book I was just starting to read.

Thanks google images! 

That year I learned who my favorite authors would be and that teacher taught me many things...

She taught me that I loved structure.

She taught me that I really enjoyed reading...That Roald Dahl, Mary Downing Hahn, Gary Paulsen, Andrew Clements, and a few others would become some of my favorite authors.

She taught me to LOVE the smell of a plain cup of lipton tea. Her tea would sit on my desk sometimes while she would read. I would have my head down on the desk listening to her voice and smelling that tea.

She taught me to enjoy pictures...Having them taken and having them as a record. We were all to bring a roll of film to school. She used all 25 rolls throughout the year and at the end, we all made scrapbooks of our year in her class.

She taught me the importance of a good handshake.

She taught me how to be interested in the lives of the people around me.

She taught me how to keep myself organized, how to be a studious student, and how to explain myself through writing.

Our helper was missing....I'm in the black dress in the front row. 

Now that I think about it, my love for a lot of things began in her classroom. A lot of fears were overcome. Her teacher's helper had a lot to do with that. Always smiling, quick to lend a hand and a word of encouragement.

Those ladies were quite the team. I actually cried on the last day of school that year. They did too. No body wanted that year to be over.

A week later after school was out, in that same classroom, I would come to be saved through a VBS class that was also held there. I came to love so many things in that classroom, it only seems fitting that Jesus would be one of them.

I still know both of those ladies. Their husbands have since  passed away. And to be honest, while they still hold a special place in my heart, we all seem to keep our distance.

It's strange really. I started this post based on a picture that reminded me of Narnia. I just knew I needed to get a post up, but I didn't know what I was going to share.

I ended up talking about a piece of my past. A piece that brought a lot of great changes. Looking back, I know how much we all enjoyed one another, how much my class grew that year, and yet, today, no one would ever know that any of that had happened.

I remember. I am glad for that year to be in my past and in my memory.

But, like Narnia, there's no going back and the existence of that year seems to be forgotten.

Did you have a special year in school that stands out from the rest?

Do you still know any of your teachers from school?

What books did you especially enjoy when you were growing up?