My first crush....

My first crush wasn't on a boy in my class or a teen idol. It happened long before I was to even like boys at all! My first crush was, inarguably, Miss Listenbee, my kindergarten teacher at Weiskopf School.

I went to morning kindergarten. Back when I started school they only had half day kindergarten. Not like today where kids go all day right away. My mother would walk me to school each morning. It was only a few blocks from our home and just up the street from St. George School where my mom taught 2nd grade. Now I wouldn't say I led a sheltered life but maybe I just wasn't the most observant kid. Miss Listenbee was only the 2nd African American person I can remember seeing up until that time. But she was magical to me. She wore smart suit like Jackie Kennedy and looked like Diahann Carroll from the tv show "Julia". She was smart and kind and fun to be around and I hung on every word that she spoke. My mother would often comment that things she would try to get me to do would suddenly be so easy once Miss Listenbee told me to do them! I spent my days doing everything I could to make her proud of me.

It was at this time that I discovered that I was pretty good at drawing. Actually, better than other kids my age and Miss Listenbee noticed that too. She started asking me to draw special pictures of stories she would tell or help her make posters for the class. It made me feel very special.

I remember one cold, snowy day when the weather took a turn for the worse and we were being sent home early. Miss Listenbee had given me some special marks on some paintings I did and she gave them to me to take home with me. Now, today there would be no way they would let a bunch of five year old children just walk home in a snow storm but this was a different time and we all lived close so off we went. My mom's school was closed so she was already home and I had to make the four or five blocks on my own. I held my precious paintings in my mittened hand and struggled against the snow and wind. My buckle boots were heavy with show and my snow suit was wet making it hard to move. I trudged on, tears starting to stream down my face, as I saw the paint on my artwork start to run down my sleeve leaving a colorful trail behind me in the snow. I got all the way to the corner across the street from my house and I....just....couldn't....take....one....more....step. I flopped over, sobbing, into a snowbank and resigned myself to die right there. Thankfully, and with some humor, both my mother and sister were looking out the window for me. They saw my very dramatic scene on the corner and my sister was sent out to haul my over dramatic, sobbing self inside. My paintings were ruined and I was inconsolable.

The next day my mother explained to Miss Listenbee what had happened and even though I thought I saw her laugh a little bit she came over later and put a big gold star sticker on my shirt. She said that was for trying and sometimes trying is all we can do. As long as we keep on trying, we will go far. I loved that woman!

At the end of the year, I suddenly realized that I was going to start 1st grade at St. George! Oh my gosh, I was inconsolable again. My 5 year old mind thought that when you got a teacher that was it and she was yours forever! I cried and cried that last day of kindergarten. I yelled at my mom that I was never going to school again!

Of course, the summer came and went and Miss Listenbee became a distant memory. I started 1st grade and was introduced to another great teacher and someone who influenced my life in so many ways - Sr. Josephe!