My Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time when friends and family gather together in fellowship to give thanks, share some food, and maybe even watch some football together. This year, Thanksgiving marked the return of my daughter Lyndsay from Bolivia. After travel complications arose, first with her visa, then with the retrieval of her passport, we weren’t sure if we were going to have her home for the holidays or not. But the Lord is good and Lyndsay’s passport came into her possession only hours before her flight was to depart for the states. She will be returning to the mission field in Bolivia (sans dreadlocks) after the Christmas holiday is over. Over Thanksgiving I was also afforded the opportunity to spend time with two of the people who most influenced my life: Ralph and Mr. Gilpin. Both men are educators and have both been recognized as Teachers of the Year in Florida. A large part of the draw I have to education is to pay back their investment in me.

 

 Family reunion at the train station in Tampa, FL.

Lyndsay's last photo with the dreads.

Losing the dreadlocks. Hallelujah! 

  My beautiful daughter WITHOUT dreadlocks.

Ralph, six years my senior, was my neighbor and mentored me from the time of my dad’s passing until the day I left for college. The impact he had on my life is incalculable and I am very thankful for him. Because of our age difference, Ralph and I never attended school together, but he was always there for me none the less. I had a lot of energy as a kid and could be rather rambunctious and even rebellious at times.  Ralph saw those qualities in me and helped me to channel and apply them in positive ways. He saw me for me, and not just the me that I was, but the potential me that was present inside. Everything I know about loving young people, I learned from Ralph. 

 

Me and Ralph at Thanksgiving. 

Mr. Gilpin taught Comparative Religion at my high school, and was the only teacher I had who challenged me to expand my expectations and to apply myself to achieve them. Mr. Gilpin was a former priest who had renounced the priesthood to become an evangelical. Before Mr. Giplin, I was a bit of an under-achiever, something that my other teachers would identify and label as a negative, ultimately furthering my rebellious nature. Mr. Gilpin instead saw my rebellious, energetic ways and drew them out of me in a positive way, in a productive way. He was the first person in my life that had really challenged me to make life goals; it was the first time in my life that I had really thought about what I wanted from my future. Most importantly, Mr. Gilpin taught me to love the Church as the bride of Christ; he challenged me to visit churches and view their presentation of the sacraments, to experience worship with them. He taught me that God’s church isn’t in a building: it’s the people.

 Me with Mr. and Mrs. Gilpin over Thanksgiving.

The thing I thank them most for is that they never tried to change me or conform me. Instead, they each helped me to discover my gifts and talents, and most especially they taught me how to channel them. They each cared about me beyond the classroom, and I knew that.

These men are responsible for my draw to education, my desire to be a teacher, to work with teachers, to challenge teachers to genuinely care about their students, and to provide students with a personalized education. More important than any subject is the knowledge that the one teaching is someone who truly sees you and encourages you to be more than you are. My draw to education is recognizing the opportunity that we have to shape young people, and that’s exactly what we are doing at Shannon Forest every single day. If we were to look around one day and discover that the only thing our students take away from their time here is content, then we will have failed them. These are my educational aspirations.