Teach & Serve III, No. 25 – Education: Our Family Business
January 31, 2018
If you ask me what our family business is, I would have to say “teaching.”
And what a wonderful business it is.
Today is my younger sister’s birthday. In the past, I have called her my “little sister” but, as we are both *ahem* over forty, that seems a bit ridiculous now. I wish her the happiest of birthdays and a wonderful year ahead. I wish that all her dreams come true.
My sister is a child librarian and has been one for over twenty years. I have written about her and libraries in a previous Teach & Serve. She is a model for me about commitment and vocation and service. And she is thinking about altering her service from the library setting to the school setting.
She will be terrific and this is a natural progression for her.
My sister and me long before either of us were… forty.
As I was thinking about her and her potential change in career, I began to consider the other teachers in our family.
My mother’s mother was an elementary school teacher for years. One of my earliest memories about schools is being with Grandma in her classroom putting up decorations in the fall. What a lovely memory to have. One of my uncles was a math professor and dean of his department at a major university for decades. His daughter, one of my cousins is a professor at a major university teaching … math. One of my aunts was an English professor and dean of her department at a community college for years. Her daughter, one of my cousins, has directed preschools for years. One of my brothers-in-law taught for almost five years. My wife has been a teacher for almost twenty years. One of my sons is applying to graduate schools in education to become a teacher.
I taught English for over twenty years and am headed back this fall back towards teaching and into direct school leadership.
Other members of the family do critical work in other fields – for the church, for their communities, for the public health – are engineers and business leaders and are studying to be lawyers and nurses and so many more valuable things. I honor each and every one of them.
But, if you ask me what our family business is, I would have to say “teaching.”
And what a wonderful business it is.
I cannot wait to fully welcome my little… er… younger sister to it.