When I left you I was but the learner. Now, I am the master!  …Tim Schaeffer (actually, Darth Vader said it, but it applies here !)

 

I recently had an extraordinary experience that I suppose few former teachers can boast.  As many of you know, I started my career as a 4th grade classroom teacher in the public schools before heading to the university for many years.  My first ten years as an educator were spent teaching 10-year olds, a simply delightful age where children are really fun to be around and they are consumed with curiosity about everything.  Elementary teachers play an important role in a child’s development but, typically, as students go through their school years, the teachers they remember most as adults are their high school teachers.  It’s only natural to remember the most recent rather than someone from your early years.

I am quite pleased to be “friends” with a number of my former elementary students on Facebook and gladly welcome more.  It’s always interesting to see how they are doing, what careers they chose, find out about their families, where they settled, etc.  I enjoy hearing from them directly and reading about their current lives on Facebook posts.

Over the past year or so I have taken up scuba diving and have earned my Advanced Open Water certification.  As it turns out, one of my former elementary students, Tim Schaeffer, is a scuba diver with hundreds of dives under his belt and has earned the very difficult certification level of Rescue Diver.  With more than 200 dives under his belt, he is far more advanced than I (see quote above !). We are friends on Facebook so I asked him for some advice on what equipment I should consider buying.  Keep in mind the last time I saw Tim he was knee high to a grasshopper and but 10-years old.  In short, it had been over 40 years since I talked to him last !!!  As a member of the scuba diving community, he understood my excitement at being able to explore the last frontier on planet Earth.  He was very forthcoming about the good, the bad, and the ugly of scuba equipment and I was glad for the advice.

More so, however, I was thrilled at his invitation to dive with him and we made plans to go to Cozumel, Mexico and scuba dive some of the beautiful waters and coral reefs there.  Imagine for a moment all your past elementary school teachers.  Is there any one of them you would imagine scuba diving with–or doing any other such activity for that matter?  Needless to say, I was flattered.  We made plans, coordinated our flights such that we’d meet in Miami and fly together from Miami to Cozumel.  We rented a condo on AirBnB (it was really, really nice, spotlessly clean, and centrally located within walking distance of everything downtown). 

So the first time in more than 40 years, I saw Tim was in an airport bar in Miami !  My how he’d grown …  We started chatting with the ease of old friends in spite of the 40 years that had gone by, our difference in age, and that I had been his teacher.  We took a few trips down memory lane and caught up on each other’s lives in the intervening years.  I didn’t feel it was awkward in the least.  The conversation was with an ease as if we had been good friends and talked regularly over the years.

While diving, I had a bit of a mishap that required some medical attention.  Tim simply took over and took care of all of the arrangements making sure that I was well taken care of and contacted my son and wife.  I will be forever grateful beyond words.  (You’ll need to share a six-pack with me to hear the whole story). In spite of this little episode, the week in Cozumel was beyond description.  We ate, we drank, we partied, we talked, we laughed.  I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.  Amazingly, in spite of my medical diversion, he wants to do it again!  We are planning a dive trip to the Dutch island of Bonaire in the southern Caribbean for the end of February/early March (assuming Bonaire lets USA citizens in at that time).  Bonaire is a diver’s paradise with stunning dive opportunity and will be a beautiful place for me to dive and improve my skill levels.

I am touched that Tim wants to do it again even though I am many years his senior.  I still picture the little 10-year old boy I had in my classroom.  He has the same mischievous smile and fun-loving attitude.  I thoroughly enjoyed having him as a student.  As an adult, he is a caring, gentle soul and I am proud of the man he has become.  I feel privileged to have spent time with him and look forward to more such trips in the future.

Merry Christmas to all.  Please wear your mask.