Showing Appreciation

The first full week in May is often recognized as teacher appreciation week in schools around the country. I know many teachers who are truly amazing, giving, and loving people who dedicate more time and energy to their students and classrooms than most of us ever realize. Through the years, my kids have been blessed with some truly special teachers, and I've always tried to show our appreciation toward them for the ways they pour into my family. 

This year, however, I wanted to do something extra special for the kids' teachers. I've talked on here several times about how hard this season has been for us, but I know it was demanding and heavy for our teachers, too. They had to adapt and adjust everything in order to do their job, knowing the entire time that many students would fall through the cracks anyway. My teacher friends have grieved for their students who need them, they've lost sleep worrying about their students who might not be eating or even safe, and they've sacrificed so much time and energy trying to salvage this school year.

With all of that said, I went round and round with myself trying to decide what we could do for our teachers to let them know how much we appreciate them and how special they are to us. I thought about mailing them gift cards, but that seemed so impersonal. I thought about having flowers delivered to their homes, but that was too expensive. I also thought about personally delivering a plant or flowers to their homes, but didn't know if that would be too invasive. Respecting boundaries is important to me.

I discussed a few options with my besties who are teachers (Amy and Angie), and they both agreed that I should try to deliver something personally to our teachers. Although I was nervous to do this, I sent each of the kids' classroom teachers plus Mrs. S (their beloved PE teacher) a message. I said that we would love to deliver something to them, but if they weren't comfortable with that because of COVID, we would make them a video instead. I wanted to give them a clear and easy out in case they didn't like the idea of us coming to their house. 

ALL five of them responded that they would LOVE a visit from us. Brianna's teacher even said that she feels so undeserving of any kind of visit or gift because she feels like she hasn't been able to really be a teacher this year under the circumstances, and that my message brought tears to her eyes. The twins' teacher and classroom aid both responded with lots of capital letters and exclamation points expressing their excitement. Bren's teacher said "YES! Please, please, please come see me!" 

Chris and I went to Sam's and had the kids help us pick out lovely plants for the teachers. They were a great price and very beautiful, so I even bought one for myself. I had been their teacher this year too, after all :-). Once we got them home, I made little signs with the teacher's name to put in each plant, and the children all wrote very sweet notes expressing their love and appreciation. The plants ended up being so cute and special!

On Friday, May 8th, I scheduled the deliveries. First, Bren and I went to see his teacher, Mrs. B. When we pulled into her driveway, she came running out of her house to meet us and even gave us both a HUGE hug! We visited for an hour with her.

After Mrs. B's house, I took Bren back home and picked up Brianna. She and I drove out to her teacher's house that is several miles north of town. She also came out to meet us in the driveway, and we visited for about 10 minutes. She was a good teacher and Brianna enjoyed her, but we struggled to feel very connected with her this year. However, she was grateful for the plant and it was nice to see her!

Our next stop was Mrs. S's house, so Brianna and I picked up Brenson and headed back across town toward the lake where Mrs. S lives. She saw us pull up and came immediately to meet us in the driveway. We visited with her for over an hour! I think we were all craving conversation and connection! The next morning, she posted this on FB:

I hadn't expected our deliveries to take allllllll afternoon, but between driving back and forth across town and all the visiting, they did! After we returned home from seeing Mrs. S, the whole family loaded in the van to go to a nearby town and visit the twins' teacher, Mrs. C. She, too, came running out to meet us in the driveway as soon as we pulled up, and we visited with her for over an hour while the kids played in her yard. She just kept hugging the girls and saying how much she missed everyone. After we left, she posted this on FB:

I realized after we got home that evening that I failed to take pictures of the kids with any of their teachers, and that made me sad. We still had one visit to make, and I wasn't going to repeat the same mistake. I took the twins out to see Mrs. M (their full-time classroom aid) this past Tuesday, and she was running out of her house to see us before we even pulled in the driveway! 

Before I could ask for a photo, Mrs. M asked me to take one of her and the girls!

Brecklyn, Mrs. M, and Brooke

Then, Mrs. M took us on a tour of her {beautiful} property. The girls loved playing on her playset and running all around while Mrs. M and I visited. We ended up being out there for over an hour, as well!

I was more than a little nervous (and maybe insecure) about inviting myself and my children to make house visits to these teachers. However, they all expressed how pleased they were that we made effort to show them how loved and appreciated they are, and I am so thankful that I took the chance and arranged these visits. Although I'm sad I didn't get photos of all of them, seeing them and being able to interact in person really helped ease the transition of the bizarre ending to this school year. We are truly so thankful for our school community, and these visits were a great boost to our spirits!