Wonderful Women

Reading is one of my favorite things to do. Mrs. Smith, my first grade teacher is the one who taught me to read. She had the alphabet hanging above the blackboard in the front of the classroom. Each letter had an object that started with that letter. She made it all seem so wonderful. We would write our letters and then learn the sounds each one made. She had books everywhere for us to borrow. Of course we used the Dick and Jane series.

Mrs. Smith was a small woman with glasses and dark curly hair. She usually wore dresses with a belt and black heels. Sometimes she wore a suit but took the jacket off and hung it on the side of her chair. There was always a thermos of coffee on her desk. She must have had allergy problems because I remember her voice was often scratchy and she had a hankie tucked in her sleeve.
I don't know very much about her except that I loved her then and I still do. I only saw her once outside of school and that was at a craft fair many years after I graduated. I reintroduced myself to her and told her how much she had meant to me and how I loved school because of her.

Mrs. Smith was a kind woman. She didn't loose her temper very often, but when she did it upset me. I didn't like to see her angry. She did encourage us to play together and not leave anyone out.

Mrs. Smith will always be one of my favorite women.