A Shout out to my favorite Librarian

Not only is Lynne my favorite librarian, she is also my very good friend and I just want to take a moment to sing her praises and say "Thank you" to her on my blog.

Lynne and I met about 26 or so years ago. I think we both knew of one another but did not ever have a chance to speak. I still remember the day I was desperately looking for someone to teach Preschool with me at Mary Linsmeier. My co teacher was moving on to a new teaching position in the public school and I was nervous about who was going to end up in my classroom team teaching with me. I ran into a mutual friend and asked if she would be interested in teaching with me, she was not, but she gave me Lynne's name as a possible prospect. That was the beginning of a wonderful relationship. What started as two young moms teaching Preschool together grew into a well seasoned friendship that is very special to me.
Some of my favorite memories include:

1. Our two youngest, Daniel and Alissa disrupting our classroom as only a teacher's child can. The two of them would often head out to our cars while Lynne and I were still cleaning up after class. They would turn the radio way up and play with other buttons in the car so that when we got in and started our cars we never knew quite what to expect. Sometimes they just liked to crawl up on the hood and play with the garage door opener.

2. Those same two darling children would have playdates together. Daniel had a way of telling me stories that I would believe hook, line, and sinker. The more I believed his tales, the more he told them.

3. The Sunday that our husbands took the entire afternoon to put our new classroom tables and chairs together. My husband is less than handy with that kind of thing and when he walked in with his little manual screwdriver I am sure Lynne's much handier husband with his electric screwdriver had a feeling he would be doing most of the work!

4. In the very beginning of Mary Linsmeier it was just Lynne and I and we would have some very fun programs for our parents. We put on numereous plays. One I particularity enjoyed was when Lynne wore our big parachute and played the part of the Old Lady Who Swallowed the Fly. The kids played the animals and crawled under the chute while I told the story! Another time I was the star of the show while she read the story. We all wore crepe paper tails and had to parade around holding on to each other's tail. We were brave in those days putting on all these fun shows.

5. Lynne stood by me as Mary Linsmeier went big and became a full time day care center. She was my assistant director for many years and I honestly do not know how I would have survived without her help and encouragement.

6. Lynne and I came in on Tuesday evenings to clean the center. We were trying to save money on janitors. We would scrub all the floors and clean the bathrooms. It was a job I dreaded, but having Lynne by my side helped make it okay.

7. We were such a good team because we always had our favorite kids and luckily for the kids, the ones that I didn't particularly care for were Lynne's favorites and vice versa so no one really suffered any. ( Just so you know, teachers do always have a few favorites and a few not so favorites, it is just natural)

8. It was very trying to make a big move to our new big center in the old High School. Suddenly overnight we got very, very big and again Lynne stood by me and held me up when things were really getting me down.

9. We did the gradeschool program together and just about went crazy but again we were there for one another. Sometimes the kids ran away on us, too. It was not pretty.

10. We took so many field trips together. We went places that I am sure no one else would even consider like our trip to the Waste Water Treatment Plant, who goes there? But we always had fun because we were both there together.

11. Whenever I went on a vacation big things would happen at the center like a kid falling through a window or the licensing agent visiting. But in true Lynne fashion, she handled things very well.

12. I was very sad when Lynne decided to leave teaching and become a librarian. We were a fine oiled machine and I wasn't sure I could operate without her beside me. We finished one another's sentences and we just knew what the other one needed while teaching lessons. It was almost magical. The only bright spot was that Lynne's daughter, Melissa came and taught with me and she was just like her mom so the machine could still operate well.

13. Somewhere over the years of teaching together Lynne and I became close friends. We
gave each other advice and encouragement during our children's high school years, we helped each other during the hard times when we sent our kids away to college and missed them, we attended each other's children's weddings, and now we are sharing good times with our grandchildren. Since Lynne has three grandchildren and they live in Watertown she unselfishly shares them with me when I am missing my little Tizita.

14. Lynne and I both love to walk and those are some of our best shared times now. I am looking forward to the nice weather so we can get out and walk and chat together.

Now getting to Librarian Lynne

Today I took my 19 three and four year olds to the library so that Lynne could read to them. I just get to sit back and enjoy Lynne's wonderful way with reading to young children. My Preschoolers sit absolutely spell bound while she reads to them and for a few minutes I let my mind go back to a Mary Linsmeier classroom in the Moravian church where two young moms did their best to teach a roomful of Preschoolers...

We have come a long way since then and I look forward to our friendship continuing for a long, long time.

Thanks so much Lynne, for your unselfish nature, your kind considerate manner, and your friendship. I appreciate it much more than you will ever know.