The unexpected gift

Happy Holidays to everyone!   It has been a crazy few weeks as we bring our classroom to the absolute peak of frenzy making decorations and covert gifts, singing songs, learning about holidays around the world, decking our halls with everything from popcorn to dreidels! We always have a wonderful time, really there is no better place to be this time of year than in a Montessori classroom. But it's exhausting and I feel it more every year.

Today I got a lovely gift that melted the exhaustion away. We had a visit from a pretty young woman, studying in Europe, who wanted to observe our children as part of her preparation to teach.  She came in full of curiosity, great questions, and  positive energy.  She looked at every area, impressed by the lovely materials and the depth of curriculum available to all ages.  She recognized the link from simple to complex, the manner in which children bring themselves along academically without adult direction once they have mastered basic organization and developed an understanding of a work cycle.  Her eyes widened as she caught on to the things we brought to her attention.  She asked lots of personal questions of us, how we became teachers, how we found Montessori, why we chose this path.

But the absolute best thing about the morning was when she looked outside and said, " I remember climbing that tree," or when she saw an activity and touched it lovingly and said, " I remember this work".   I could see recognition and nostalgia in her face as she watched the kids, and heard her understanding of what she was observing when she addressed the children.  I was so proud of her, beautiful, brilliant young woman, who not so long ago ran around this yard, and worked diligently in this classroom, who never gave up, who challenged herself daily and with joy, who mentored her two  younger siblings as they came up into the ranks of the Montessori classroom.

To host her here today, as she chose to come back and learn yet again from the Montessori environment from whence she came, to have her look at us adult to adult and care about our journey as she looked around with new eyes, was the best present I could get this year.  I feel validated yet again.  I feel the rightness of my choice yet again. I am thankful to still be here, in this same beautiful place, where those who want to come back can still find us. And so very lucky.  Thank you Beth!