LITTLE MILLIGAN SCHOOL

Eight years ago today our world changed. Let's all remember the way we felt that day, and the way we felt the weeks after, when we put patriotic stickers on our cars and hung American Flags from our porches. Why do we need to have a tragedy to befall us to know what is good and true? Even in our own personal lives we forget how truly blessed we are everyday, we become complacent and even bored sometimes with the mundane things that make up our lives. Always wanting more. I bet everyone of the people killed on 911 would gladly trade places with anyone of us if they could live out their lives doing the same things we find taxing. Find pleasure in everything !

Little Milligan School. An old building, built in the 50's, simple concrete with large windows and high ceilings, chipped linoleum floors, exposed pipes and hanging 'schoolhouse' light fixtures. But the rough physical appearance of the building belies the loving family atmosphere of the teaching environment inside. These Appalachian kids are getting the finest education without all the distractions that city kids face. There are no drugs, no gangs, no clothing jealousies, no soda and candy machines, no bells and no locked security doors. Parents come and go, two stray dogs live at the school loved by all, the principal was a student there as a boy and then a janitor and then a teacher, giving real ownership to the job. He is so loved, that when he walks into the lunchroom during lunch, the kids spontaneously chant 'JR, JR, JR' ! ! his name. Did anyone of us have a principal like that ?

On the other hand, the children that make up the 150 student body are some of the poorest in the country. They come from families that have lived in this part of Appalachia for a century, subsistence farmers most, they had no fluoride in their well water and of course no dental care, so alot of the children even in Kindergarten show horrible tooth decay and gum disease already. Again, some of us hate going to the dentist, but these kids would probably jump at the chance to go. It's all a matter of perspective isn't it?

I have obligated myself to working with the Kindergarten 4 days a week. I am exhausted when I come home but in a good way. I know that I am helping mold little lives, not that I have all the answers, as I am learning as much as the kids are, mainly about myself. As I have said before, retirement has given me the freedom to explore other things. And I find the more I let go of the 'details' of my life, the more life I have.

Moral. Don't sweat the small stuff.

Love to you all... Sandi