Tales from a Teacher-Mama

My youngest daughter, 5-year-old Sarah, is truly one of the most interesting characters I’ve ever known. She has an active imagination, complete with a bevy of imaginary friends to keep her company. And some of the things she says are so…surprising. For example, one evening after dinner she was dancing around the living room and happened to pass gas. I looked at her with wide eyes, waiting for her embarrassed “excuse me.” Instead she said, “Delighted,” and almost curtsied, as if she’d just met the queen rather than tooted. I’m telling you–she’s a character.

An aside about me: I’m 34, happily married with two lovely little girls, Laura (6-1/2) and “delighted” Sarah. I teach students who are deaf and hard-of-hearing; yes, I am fluent in American Sign Language, but no, I do not read Braille (that’s for the blind!)

Back to Sarah. I like to ask her from time to time what she wants to be when she grows up. Her answer has been the same for a year or two now: “I want to be a mommy like you.” (I try to recall the sweetness of this sentiment when she’s driving me absolutely bonkers with her willfulness or whining.) The last time I checked in with her, she expanded on her answer: “I’m going to be a teacher-mama like you.” I asked what she would like to teach, and she replied that she will “teach at a signing school, with you, and then we can see each other in the hall and maybe eat lunch together.” Is this not a mother’s fantasy–that her child not only wants to grow up to be just like her, but wants to work alongside her?! I can’t honestly say I envision her as a teacher, and it’s hard for me to picture my 5-year-old as a mother. But whatever path she chooses to follow into her adult life, I hope she holds onto that feeling. I hope that she continues to find me worthy of her admiration and enjoyable to have in her company. I hope, and I pray…I know adolescence will sneak up on us all too soon!

So I am a teacher-mama. Thank you, Sarah, for a title for my blog. I will try not to embarrass you–or your sister, or your father, or my students–too much with my posts.

No promises though. “Delighted.”

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