Born to teach

I have always envied people who feel like their job/career is a fulfillment of what they were created to do.

Daughter began her last semester of college this week and today begins her internship, or student teaching, the last step in her becoming a full fledged teacher.

And I believe she was born to do it.

She started playing school at a very young age. When her little brother was old enough to sit up, he became her student. My parents had given us an old antique desk and she would have him sit there to do his "lessons." He was required to say the Pledge of Allegiance and say "Good morning" to her at the start of the school day. He was not always the most obedient student but he was all she had and she was eventually able to coerce him into tolerable cooperation (after a few parent-teacher conferences, of course).

She also loved going to school -- every aspect of it. When we moved from Little Rock to Nashville she was in third grade. In Little Rock she and Older Son had attended a small, private Christian school that at the time was located in a church.

With the move to Tennessee, we decided to go the public school route and save all that tuition money for college. Daughter immediately took to it. She loved riding the school bus, the long hallways and bells ringing. She was also fascinated with the big cafeteria and was delighted with the cafeteria ladies and their hair nets.

The structure of school was always a perfect fit for her. For a very brief interim period before we moved, when school had already started, Wife home-schooled Older Son and Daughter rather than have them start the school year and pull them out. Older Son, who has many of the personality traits of his mom, could not imagine a better life with the concentrated daily time frame under which Wife conducted home school. He had learned to play golf and was usually on the course before noon during that brief period.

Daughter, on the other hand, experienced one of the most stressful times of her life when she would get up, eat breakfast, put a bow in her hair and seat herself at the kitchen table promptly at 8 a.m., ready for class, only to find her "teacher" (her mother) and brothers still sleeping. She was convinced that irreparable damage was being done to her educational progress.

With no principal on the campus, she would report her concerns to me and I would try to mediate between her and her teacher/mom. (As it turned out, she was more than well prepared when she began her third grade class at her new school).

Going to get school supplies for the upcoming school year was always one of her best days. Her favorite of all was the "pencil pouch" and a new one was, of course, required each year. Even last week before she went back, I could hear the lilt in her voice as she told me she was going to buy a lunch box to take with her to her new class.

She has given us detailed accounts of her "hands-on" education classes over the last couple of years, and her passion is undeniable.

She has already sent me a text message today, saying she has told her second grade students about our dog, Ralph, and that she loves her teacher.

That's exactly what I would expect. I am picturing her in that classroom today, in front of those little boys and girls -- herself not so far removed from that little girl who so conscientiously taught her brother -- and I am immensely proud of and happy for her. I believe many children will benefit from this little girl who was born to teach.

War Eagle!

The Auburn Tigers won the national championship tonight!

As regular visitors here know, Older Son and FDIL are Auburn grads, Daughter is a senior there now, and Younger Son will matriculate there next fall. Neither Wife nor I attended Auburn but, I assure you, I have PURCHASED my allegiance to Auburn!

Older Son, the savvy young man that he is, managed to purchase tickets to the game, as well as plane tickets, for much less than most. He could have sold the game tickets and come close to paying for his honeymoon. He didn't.

Daughter got a ticket through the lottery at school and, lucky young woman that she is, received a gracious invitation to accompany a friend's family who has a private plane.

As I write this, the two of them are celebrating in Glendale, Arizona. Wife, Younger Son and I watched from the comfort of home.

Through the speed of modern technology, I can already show you photos. War Eagle!

Daughter all decked out

Older Son and FDIL celebrating

2010 Reading

I'm a little late with it, but wanted to mention a few of my favorite books of last year. One of the most enjoyable parts of my reading in 2010 was re-discovering the poet, essayist and novelist Wendell Berry. I read his book Jayber Crow several years ago, which I loved, but never read anything else.

Berry's fiction is mostly centered around the fictitious farming community of Port William, Kentucky. Berry is himself a longtime farmer who still resides in Kentucky. As the stories progress, Berry's unspoken commentary on the unfortunate plight of the American farmer is clear.

His stories are interwoven with the same characters but, unlike most "series" books, you can really start anywhere. A World Lost is a compilation of a number of short stories, but which are in chronological order and flow together so as to give an overview of the characters of Port William. It would be a great place to start if you wanted to sample some of Berry's work.

His writing is nothing short of beautiful, intermittently bringing laughter and tears, reminiscent of a simpler time and place, although some of his stories evolve into the current day.

I read a Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute and The Maltese Falcon by Dash Hammett, which I couldn't exactly call classical literature but are both books that have been around for a while. I loved the former, the story of a woman who survives a Japanese death march in World War II and in the process meets an intriguing Australian gentleman. Falcon was a fun read, somewhat melodramatic.

I continued with Alexander McCall Smith's Number One Ladies Detective Agency series with number eleven, The Double Comfort Safari Club, which was every bit as delightful as the previous ten.

On the non-fiction side, I enjoyed Game Change, a page-turning narrative of the 2008 presidential campaign, and George W. Bush's presidential post-mortem Decision Points. It was as one would expect, rather self-serving, but providing an interesting view into the years he occupied the White House.

Also had fun reading In a Heartbeat by Sean and Leigh Anne Touhy, the couple from Memphis who took in football phenonenom Michael Oher, which lead to the eventual book and movie The Blind Side. It's written in a broken-up style that drives me crazy, intermittently first and third person by both of them ( I don't understand how a book editor would ever think a reader would prefer this convention), but once I got past that it was intriguing to get their perspective and some clarification on their story.

My list of "to read" books is growing. FDIL gave me The Fountainhead for my birthday, her all-time favorite, and I have Gresham's latest waiting as well.

For those of you who use the Shelfari bookshelf as I do, I'm always looking at your latest picks. Be sure and let me know your favorites. Good reading to all in 2011.