Happy teacher appreciation week! Remember to hug a teacher

FROM MY FRONT PORCH

Sam Houston is the publisher of the Hood County News. He is also an actor, author, playwright, performer and entertainment producer/promoter.

I recently learned that this is National Teacher Appreciation Week. Admittedly, I have a soft place in my heart for teachers and the trials and tribulations of the teaching profession. My dad began his career as a teacher who then became a school administrator, and my wife is a retired GISD teacher after 29 years of service. If any group of professionals should receive appreciation, it needs to be our underappreciated teachers.

It is hard to recall each of the many teachers I have experienced in my life. I remember being in love with my kindergarten teacher Ms. Ryder. (I think a lot of little boys do the same thing). I remember Mr. Weber, my sixth-grade teacher, who really connected with me and all of the children in his class. Ms. Riddle taught me English in junior high and had a big impact on my wanting to write. But I think my all-time favorite teacher would be Ms. Granger, who taught me for one semester in high school. She holds a special place for a rather interesting reason.

Ms. Granger taught home economics and associated subjects. My senior year I was required to take a fine arts class, and I did not want to take drawing, ceramics, or music, so I signed up for “interior design.” Frankly, I was no more interested in the class than a man in the moon, but I needed to get the credit to graduate. I begrudgingly attended. Maybe saying “I attended” is a bit of an exaggeration because I cut class quite a few times.

Every time I missed, Ms. Granger would lecture me on what she was teaching was important and I would find the knowledge useful in my adult life. I would smile back at her, nod my head, and then simply go through the motions of learning how to fit furniture in a room and design a floor plan. Mrs. Granger was a sweetheart, but I knew I was never going to use any of the skills she taught me.

Fast-forward 15 years. I found myself working at a Fortune 500 company and needing to redesign the floor plan and workflow of a large production area. It had been a long time since Ms. Granger’s class, but it came back to me, and in short order, I managed to create a redesign and got it approved by the plant manager and the regional production manager.

A few years later, I moved my office to a new location and needed to redesign the entire interior of a building so that there would be five private offices, a secretarial area, a library, a conference room and a waiting room. Once again, I drew from the lessons Ms. Granger taught me. It wasn’t long before I had carpenters tearing down walls and changing out where doors were located. When the job was done, it was perfect. There was no reason to change anything. They had been no wasted expense or wishing I had laid out a different plan. I had skills!

I have used the knowledge I learned from Ms. Granger on a variety of other projects in my 48 years since graduation. Each time, I would say a little prayer telling Ms. Granger I knew I had been a pain in the backside to her. I thanked her for sticking with me and teaching me skills I had used so many times. I realized she had given me knowledge that had saved me a lot of aggravation and money. I picture her up in “teachers heaven” looking down at me while I worked — smiling that sweet smile she always wore.  She knew I would need those skills and she made sure I got them. God bless her soul.

There are a lot of teachers in Hood County who are the “Ms. Granger” for our students. The students may be like me and take years to realize it. I hope they come to appreciate their teachers as much as I did for my special teacher.  I was lucky to know her, and she impacted my life in ways I would have never imagined.

Thanks to all you teachers. Where would we be without you?

Thought for the day: We never know which lives we influence, or when or why.

Until next time…

sam@hcnews.com | 817-573-7066, ext. 260