Soooo....

Last Sunday I ran into Grayson Campbell (notice how his name is double compound words) in Applebee's! Grayson is the boy on the far right. (By the way, 2 years ago when I taught first grade, I only had 3 boys in my class of 14. Jack, RJ, and Grayson. The 2 books on the chalkboard ledge are Junie B. books (we read all the books in my class). The cool thing is that Junie B. got glasses when she was in first grade. And guess what?! So did GRAYSON! And..RJ!)

It was great to see Grayson...and his mom, Joy. Well guess what?! This Sunday, I saw them again, but this time at the Roadhouse! I thought it was about time that I tell you all about Grayson and Joy (and maybe I'll tell you about Daryl, Joy's husband...maybe...he likes to make fun of me, so we'll see if I have anything nice to say about him).

I remember the first time I met Joy. I was working in my brand new first grade classroom trying to get it set up for the beginning of the year. I hadn't really met anyone at Riverside Christian Academy and Joy came up to my classroom door and said, "Hey, I'm Joy, I've been praying for you all summer!" I was amazed! Soon I discovered that she had been praying for her son's to-be-teacher all summer...and she just happened to be me :-)! We became fast friends and I enjoyed running over to her classroom (she taught kindergarten) to tell her about the funny and sweet things Grayson would say and do during the day (for instance, when I was teaching the kids about compound words, Grayson got so excited that both his first and last names were compound words!). I also loved recess time because the whole school (it wasn't very big) took recess/snack time at the same time which afforded the time to sit and chat with Joy!

Oh how I loved having Grayson in my class...who was only the sweetest little boy I'd ever met! One day he came to me and said that he had a new song to teach the class during our Bible time. He came to the front of the room and taught us..."Nothing But the Blood". This song became the theme song of the first grade (along with the newer, scandalous version of "Jesus Loves Me"). Grayson gave the biggest and bestest hugs EVER! And he would giggle all the time! One big accomplishment that Grayson achieved was being able to jump up on the big yellow tunnel on the playground. I will never forget the day he made it all the way on top and...stayed (without sliding off). He even invited me to his Spiderman birthday party!

Then there was the "home visit". The pastor wanted us to visit each of the homes of our students. This struck me as annoying at first, but I actually think it was the coolest requirement ever! Grayson's home visit was quite the adventure! Imagine this: a 6 year old driving ME on the back of a 4-wheeler in the woods of Palm Bay. I was scared to death! I was clinging to him for dear life! He even tried to fish tail and I had to yell at him. Of course we ate pizza and played with Legos. A great night.

But guess what? Grayson loved to read (and I suspect and hope he still loves). When I used to work at Barnes and Noble I could count on him to visit me! Sometimes he'd even wear his hair spiked up (which was just the coolest hair cut...EVER!) Sadly, since I've stopped working at B&N, I haven't seen him all that much. But, I think of him, and his mom, often. Grayson makes me miss teaching the first grade! Joy makes me miss teaching at Riverside.