Reflections From A Teacher – Post Fire

Monday, November 26, 2018

I went up to the school this morning for the first time since the fires that swept through our lovely neighborhoods.

I was initially overwhelmed with the damage but then COMPLETELY overwhelmed with what was left untouched, EXACTLY how we had left it at the end of that Thursday afternoon. And I felt blessed, just blessed.

I walked around towards our door, through the mess that the winds had made and started up the steps when I noticed the amaryllis. We’ve planted an amaryllis bulb every year that I can remember being at IRDS. It’s one of those small miracles, to stick an ugly brown bulb in the soil and watch in amazement as it pushes their amazing thick green shoots up up up.

We love to say the word, clap the syllables, and measure the growth, sometimes actually seeing that it had grown an inch or more just over the weekend. And then when it finally BLOOMS!!!? There’s nothing like it and the kids are blown away by it, or maybe by my reaction to it? Hmmm……

The one I’m referring to today is a bulb that’s been left out in a pot since LAST winter. A few weeks ago, before the fires, I walked by and saw it looked like yet again, it was coming to life. So I moved it closer to the door and wanted to see when one of the children would notice it. Somehow today, to see the bulb in the dirty old pot that’s been cast aside for a year with new life, it did something to me. And I knew we’d would come back even stronger in our school, literally our home away from home.

I lugged it to my house where I’ll enjoy watching the miracle, as we can’t use anything that hasn’t been thoroughly sanitized when we return to our classrooms. But we will again plant a new amaryllis bulb on our first day back ‘home’, where our hearts are. We’ll laugh at the sound of the word, we’ll clap the syllables, we’ll measure the growth, and be amazed when it blooms.

Feeling Thankful,
Gina