AuburnChick's Adventures

Yesterday, the Mr. left me without a vehicle when he took a day trip up to Alabama to go dove hunting with Rooster.

I posted the following status update on Facebook:

Stuck in the house without a car = two hours of grading and laundry completed! Time to eat lunch before settling in for some serious lesson planning.

My friend, Jane, immediately responded by offering to pick me up and go to lunch at Olive Garden.  She even said she had coupons!

Unfortunately, I’d already eaten, chowing down on the veggie sandwich the Mr. had brought home from the grocery store the day before (which I had not eaten because we decided to watch the Auburn game at Beef O’Brady’s instead).

I sadly posted this news but told her I’d treat her to Starbucks if she still wanted to come get me.

In case you’re new to my blog, please allow me to explain that Jane and I met a couple of years ago…when we were both new teachers and had gotten hired on to teach at a private Muslim school.

Our shared faith in the Lord brought us together.  We never noticed our twenty-year age difference.

We had so much fun that year and could be found in each others’ classrooms constantly.

We spent prayer time (when the students left for afternoon prayers and we got an extra planning period) chatting or, in my case, dancing in the hallway.

We laughed when I got busted once by an Islamic Studies teacher.  She was cool, though, and she even joined in, sashaying her way down the hallway…showing me how she used to dance in her youth…a much cleaner version than the “Oh Mickey, You’re So Fine” version that I had just been dancing to.

<insert sheepish grin>

Jane helped me get through the grueling EPI program and was constantly available to give me feedback about assignments…work she’d completed the previous year.

We shared in the stresses that naturally went with being first year teachers.

She was there for me when I faced an especially difficult time during the school year.

When I found my job in the public school system, we were both sad that we wouldn’t be teaching together any more, but we promised to constantly stay in touch.

And we do…

Every week.

We have hour-long phone conversations and try to get together whenever we can for lunch…

Power lunches…

As in three-hour lunches…

That run into dinner time.

😀

She lives on the beach…a solid twenty minute or more drive from my house, so her offer to come and get me yesterday was very generous.

We ordered hot chocolate and sat on the patio.  The weather was divine!

Oh, how we laughed.

We shared our teaching angsts…teachers are never without them, you see.

We shared ideas.  She’s an incredibly inspiring teacher!!!

We shared updates about our children and, in her case, her grandchildren.

I know her so well that I feel we are, in some ways, a part of the same family.

I hugged her neck after she pulled into my driveway.

She was on her way to pick up her fifteen-year-old grandson, who had cajoled her into picking up dinner for him.

I love this sweet lady and am so blessed to count her as a friend!

Filed under: Teaching, This-n-That | Tagged: friendship, teaching |