When I was in grade school I went with my parents to the church where Daddy was pastor out in the country. But when I went to high school, I started going to lst Baptist Church in Charleston because my parents wanted me to go to church and choir with my friends. I am happy that they made that decision because I had a wonderful "church" time and even fell madly in love with the preacher's son there, Benny Bledsoe.
Today is Teacher Appreciation Day and I have been thinking of the wonderful teachers I have had along the way in educational settings. Then I started thinking about the teachers I have had in Sunday School and one stands out immediately, way above the rest. That was Willie Smith (Mrs. Frank Smith) who taught us for all our high school years -- only the girls, no boys allowed in the class. Besides Emily Ann Hux also was wild about Benny Bledsoe and that would have set me on edge. The problem was that I don't even think Mrs. Smith read her Sunday School lesson and I can't remember her quoting one Scripture all those years. Her job was to keep us quiet and stop us when we got into an argument. She tried to make us talk about religious stuff but we did not want to talk about anything except what we did the night before and who hated who! (She did not like for us to say "hate" and the best she could do was to get us to say "despise". But that was something and she was pleased with her efforts!)
So why do I appreciate her still after all these years! Simple. She would see that we had wonderful Sunday School parties with good food and fun and we could invite our friends and she simply, for whatever reason, let us know that she loved each of us...no matter what we said or did! It was a matter of acceptance on the part of each of us.
I saw her presence in every ham salad sandwich and bowl of chili. And I still think about her when I sit down to every combination of the two.
No comments:
Post a Comment