my elementary school days were some of the best years of my life. my aunt, daisy b. jones, was my 1st grade teacher. i had the same 2nd and 3rd grade teacher, mrs. annie v. felton. my 4th grade teacher ms. riddick worked my nerves and i hers. and my 5th grade teacher, elsie powell and her etienne aigner outfits was the flyest lady at c.s. brown elementary school. i learned from and around the greatest people. all of us, from rural homes – fancy yards on farms and hard concretes floors in the projects – were full of imagination and creativity in very unique ways. all chasing something; sometimes something greater. but mrs. felton always reminded her students, that no matter what, we must show up. we must be present. what she didn’t say was this starts with being present for yourself first.
when i lived there, the county i grew up in had 4 elementary, 1 middle and 1 high school. everybody knew everybody. my dad was an electrician. my mom was a teacher. this meant they woke up and left early for work. and so did my brother, sister and i. i never missed the bus (well there was that one time i was suspended; you not gonna slap me and get away with it) and i only missed 2 days of school from kindergarten to 12th grade – for my grandmother’s funeral in 8th grade and senior skip day. i showed up. some days doing my best, others just present. but i was there. mrs. felton instilled this. every year on the first day of classes, she’d show us a silver dollar. and if you had perfect attendance, you’d get the silver dollar at the end of the year. i had 2 silver dollars.
as i’ve grown, i’ve learned it so important to be present for others. you might fall asleep when your friend calls to vent or huff when your mama wants you to come home this weekend. but you gotta be there. it’s a whole lot easier when you’re present for yourself first. i’ve mastered this. people often tell me, ”you’re so busy.” well, i may be but i have plenty of time to and for myself. i do full on happy hours by myself. i’ll take entire weekends to binge watch documentaries…alone! i have time to myself, because i make time for myself. my time with others is me operating from my overflow. often we don’t know ourselves because we’re always in the mix. do like grandma said and “sat down somewhere” and get to know you better. be still and remind yourself of yourself. you will thank you later. here’s a good start.
happy clicks!
Yes etienne aigner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is such a great read. And so true. Just had a very similar conversation… needs to be had more. Thanks for sharing!
she had style and grace! thanks for reading.
Thanks for taking me back to my elementary years! I didn’t attend CS Brown however, I can vividly recall many parts of Riverview! We had some awesome teachers and our principal, Mr. Miles was absolutely amazing!
those were the days. and home isn’t so bad after all!