Sister Helen Dolores.
Sister Regina Marion.
Mother Marie St. James.
Today is Teacher Appreciation Day.
I have written many times of the events that have shaped my life and are responsible in large part for who I am and what I do for a living.
First and foremost are my parents and the house that I grew up in.
Second is the eight years I spent at Assumption BVM School in West Grove, under the fairly firm thumb of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Yes, I can diagram a sentence like nobody's business.
Did I get the best education? I have no idea, but I know this. I would not trade those eight years for anything in the world. Those women taught me so much more than simply a love of English and the written word.
I suppose I should include Miss Lane, who was the lay teacher I had for third and fourth grades. Yes, kids, we spent two years in the same room, in the same desk, for eight hours a day. Somehow, we managed to survive. And somehow the nuns survived us. If they did it through sheer fear, I now do not blame them a bit.
Since it's Teacher Appreication Day, I'll simply say: Thanks, sisters. I hope you know the effect you had on young people.
I am especially attuned to teachers these days. My son is completing his first year teaching high school English in Martinsburg, W. Va.
It has been an eye-opening year for a lot of us. I could not be more proud. I think the good sisters would, too.
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