‘It’s Lucy’s birthday’ Facebook tells me. It asks whether I’d like to send her a greeting.
Lucy was in one of my primary school classes long ago – the first of many classes of 10-11 year olds I taught.
An interesting age group, that. Somewhere between child and adolescent. Somewhere between being the big ones at little kids’ school and the little ones at big kids’ school. Somewhere between being revolted and fascinated by the opposite sex. Somewhere between trying to look cool and disaffected, and having an absolute thirst for knowledge. Quite a challenge, all in all, but it was still my favourite age group, and Lucy’s class was – by and large – one of my favourite classes.
So I clicked the ‘Write on Lucy’s timeline’ button and discovered that she is now 24. I sent a little message, wishing her a great birthday, and thought no more of it. Later in the day, though, I found she’d replied.
“Thank you,” she said, “but it will never be the same as when you wrote it up on the whiteboard.”
For a moment I was puzzled. Then I remembered. Yes, I DID do that! I used to keep a note of the birthdays of every child in my class. Then, when their big day arrived, I’d go in before school and cover the classroom whiteboard with a large, multicoloured message, decorated with flowers, balloons or whatever I felt would appeal to that child. The rest of the class would see it as they came in and all – even the ones who didn’t know that child particularly well – would wish them a happy birthday. A lot like what Facebook now does, I suppose.
I was amazed that Lucy had remembered that simple act over a decade later, especially when I’d completely forgotten.
Life’s like that, though, isn’t it? We do the simplest of things and sometimes – just sometimes – they can have an effect that will last and last.
Happy Birthday, Lucy!
I love that. Reminds me of the moments with my son when I share a few nuggets of wisdom, planting seeds for later. On a few occasions, I’ve seen these seeds ripen and bloom when my son quoted my wisdom back to me. When my son was 9, my father had just died and my son told me, ” we are born, we live, we die, it’s all a cycle.”
Wisdom indeed. It sounds to me as if many more of those seeds will bloom as his life continues x
I love this! Lucy’s memory is just one of many. I wonder how many other students fondly remember seeing birthday wishes up on the board for their special day.
It’s a good thought, isn’t it! Thanks so much for your comment.
and who knows how many other of hundreds of things you did were memorable to those students
That’s my point. We ALL do things every day which we hardly consider – a smile or a word of encouragement, for example. We can’t tell where those little things go, once we’ve released them…
What a nice thing to do!
And how lovely to have it brought back all those years later x