Why I Teach

No one goes into teaching for the money. It's just not there. Most people say that the reason they went into teaching was because they wanted to make a difference. Either they wanted to make a better future for themselves indirectly by teaching tomorrow's politicians, lawyers, doctors and educators, or they just wanted to make an impact on someone's life enough to be remembered later. I must admit that I got into teaching for a mixture of the two reasons. I really like teaching, and I know, it's stupid, but I love learning more than that!
I think that's why I get so bothered by the question that I hear seven times a day, "When are we ever going to need this?" To which I reply, "On the TAKS test"... but that's a whole different blog.
This weekend, I finally had a moment when I felt that I made a difference in a child's future. I must have done something right, because I went this weekend to the wedding of one of my former students. Now, when I say former, you would think that she already graduated, but you would be wrong. This little girl left our class in December, as a junior, to go with her parents to be missionaries in Germany. Not too long after that, I got an e-mail from her that said she was back in Texas, but in Dallas. So, that's okay. Then, on Thursday, I received an invitation to her wedding on Saturday. Speculation is that she is pregnant, and that's why they had to come back, but I didn't ask... that's another blog, too.
Anyway.
When I got there, she saw me walk in the door, and so I went back to her and gave her a hug, and she got teary, and said she was glad that I was there, and that she was nervous. I told her she was beautiful, and that she shouldn't cry and mess up her make-up. Thinking back, not the best words of wisdom, but she's not my daughter, right?
Anyway, I watched her walk down the aisle, marry this little boy trying so hard to act like a man, and then all I could think about was how young they were and how I hoped that they had the support system they were going to need to make it through this choice that they made. It made me get a little teary.
Afterward, her mother came up to me and told me how excited her daughter had been that I had come, and her dad came up later and said the same thing. It gave me warm fuzzy feelings inside to know that by one simple act of attendance, I feel like I gave a little girl the reassurance that she wasn't forgotten by our school, and that little bit of confidence that she was loved by someone other than family.
I kept the invitation, just so that I can remember to pray for them when I see it, because Lord knows they are going to need all the help they can get.