~a fairy garden~

For some strange reason yesterday at the noontime, I was drawn to an old tree on our playground at school.  After nearly two years of teaching at Grandfield Elementary, you would have thought I'd have taken notice of it long before yesterday.  It's not like it just popped up out of the ground over the long 3-day weekend.  As a matter of fact, it's obvious that old landmark has been there for quite a spell.  

The kids were outside playing in the cool and windy weather, many of them on the northwest corner of our playground.  As I was out amongst them checking in and seeing what they were doing, that stately old tree caught my eye.  Almost immediately I was drawn over to it, not because some child was doing something they shouldn't have been doing at recess, but rather because I noticed the interesting striations within the trunk's bark.

I just had to go over and look at it closely.

Perhaps I have been doing way too much adulting lately.  My mind has been full of selling houses and buying houses since last September, with little time to rest and relax in between.  Things get mighty serious when you talk about relocating to a new spot, and you cannot afford to lose your focus once you make the decision to go.  To say I have been very busy is an understatement and to admit that my spirit is kind of tired would be the truth.  Noticing this old tree yesterday was like a breath of fresh air to me.  It gave me the idea of something I could do that would help the kids to not forget that once I was a teacher there and that I loved them all very much.

There is a little nook, one quite long in the making, that called to me in that old tree.  And for 5 minutes yesterday, I left the grownup world and started listening to the 9-year old girl that still lives within me.  Her voice wasn't as loud as it usually is and sadly I had nearly forgotten it, but I heard it all the same, and the message she whispered to me was this.

"Wow Peggy!  Just look at that little tiny spot.  Wouldn't it be fun to have a fairy garden here?"

And the little girl that I used to be was right.  It would be fun.

Last August as the school year began, I packed up the little fairy garden that I made at our old house here in Burkburnett.  I thought the kids might enjoy seeing it, so rather than taking it apart before autumn came, I instead took it over to our classroom.  All year long it has sat upon the shelf as it waited for the chance to find its destiny.

Yesterday I found it.

When the springtime comes and before that last day of school arrives, the kids and I will transplant the fairy garden into its new home in the base of that old tree on the playground.  We will add some extra touches of our own as we design the best layout for it all.  I believe the kids will take care of it in the weeks and months that lie ahead.  I have no worries about giving it up and leaving it behind when Mike and I move to Newkirk at school's end.  Who knows?  Perhaps someone will add things of their own, and the garden will take on a new appearance in the future.  I'd love to see a picture of it next year and hope that someone will take one for me.

I have loved my time at Grandfield and have learned so much during the short two years that I was here.  I will miss the children and their wonderful families.  My heart will be heavy as I say good-bye to staff members who have been there alongside me each and every day.  I don't have a million dollars to leave behind as my legacy to them all.  I wish I did.  The good Lord above knows they all deserve it and then some.  For what it is worth, what I am leaving behind is my greatest admiration and love for them all, and oh yes there's one other thing.

~a fairy garden~