I go to Wal-mart pretty often, at least once every 2 weeks. But now when I go I have something new on my shopping list: finding former students. When we moved into our new house in January, I started doing my primary shopping at Wal-mart Super Center. Whenever I would go there before I had my own children, I'd always be on the look out for "my kids" because it is in area where the my former school was. But after going to the grocery store with two toddlers, I was more concerned with who was kicking whom and who just threw their cup under the rack of coats than looking for my former students.

This summer while I was wrangling the boys, Amber, one of my 3rd graders from 1997-98 and her mom spotted me in the check-out line. What a treat it was to see Amber! She had gone from an 8 year old to a 16 year old over night! I sure wish I had had my camera. Amber and her mom, Ramona, were able to put me in touch with another student, Christy (kindergarten/1994-95 and 2nd grade/1996-97) and her family who came to visit me a week later. It was like being in the Twilight Zone. Christy's mom, Dee, hadn't changed much but Christy had. She was a rising junior in high school. Here we are in June:

The day after Christy and her family came to visit I was at (you guessed it) Wal-mart, when I saw two more of my students, Lauren and Alicia.

I had another reunion this week. I found out that Nick, a student I taught in 2nd grade (1996-97) and 3rd grade (1997-98), was my neighbor. He lives just around the corner! He stopped by on Tuesday to visit. It's the first time I've seen him in 8 years!


It sure makes me feel old to see how "my kids" have grown up! But I am grateful to see that they have turned out to be good kids!