That’s a clickbait-y title, but I really did. For a good reason. This morning my boss and I had to give a presentation to the board of the organization that funds us. We were both a bit nervous, but we were so full of success stories and excitement over what we’ve been able to accomplish in a year, we really wanted even more time to talk with these people.
They were all very positive about what we were doing, and a bit in shock that we have some unlicensed family childcare homes (who are not required by law in Missouri to do…well…anything really) to voluntarily spend 10 Saturdays learning how to improve their work. And a group of our previous participants asked us for permission to do it all again after doing it the first time. 200 hours of their lives they are choosing to spend with us in order to better serve young children.
After the presentations, we made connections with two other organizations also receiving money from the Boone County Children’s Services Fund, and we found some new ways we can reach even more children. (By the way, if you live in Boone County and pay property taxes, THANK YOU!) We left that meeting on such a high, and my supervisor gave me a literal and figurative pat on the back for a job well done.
When I got back to my office, one of my students came by so I could help her with some paperwork and take her to meet with a couple other people in the college. At one point she broke down in tears and told me that all her life, people had told her she wasn’t good at school and could never go to college. And she’s doing it. She’s doing a really good job at it. She’s doing it while working full time and raising her children and battling personal challenges. Our program is helping her do this “impossible” thing, and it’s making such a difference in her life, and in the lives of all the children and families she will reach.
Barely recovered emotionally from that encounter, I had another student stop by. She’s also working full time, raising children of her own, and going to college, and she wanted to tell me she had just gotten a promotion at work. A promotion our program helped her to earn. She was gushing about how much more money she’ll make and the benefits she’ll have and what a huge difference this will make for her family.
Then she teared up as she told me her six-year-old son got sent home from school today because he wouldn’t stay in his seat. Is this a thing?! Are we sending Kindergartners home for not sitting? Six-year-old boys don’t sit still. They just don’t. And this poor mom had to leave work to go get her kid, and she wants what’s best for him and just didn’t know what to do. We were able to get her some resources and connect her with people who can help fight for her child to be successful. In Kindergarten.
As I walked out to my car tonight, all the emotion of the day hit me, and I just started bawling. I’m so overwhelmingly proud of these women. And I’m proud of the work my colleagues and I are doing to improve the lives of these teachers and the countless children they will impact as their careers progress. Everything that happened today was such a clear reminder that what we do matters.
You know how some people say they love their jobs? And that their work energizes them? And they work when they don’t have to because they are just so excited about whatever it is they do?
Yeah, those people are nuts.
I’ve spent 30 years having no earthly idea how anyone could ever truly feel that way about work. For the first time in my life, I’m one of those nutty people. I’m nuttier than a fruitcake. And it’s a pretty great thing to be.