I was relaxing after a hard day’s work next to the fire place in my country home in Castall, Spain and looking out at the Mediterranean mountains sprinkled with snow.  I just finished pruning my olive trees, something I had just learned.  The harvest was in and now I had to prepare for the rest of winter.  In this quiet moment, I reflected on my years as a teacher.  I went to fetch a portfolio that a good friend and fellow teacher gave me at my retirement ceremony.  I began to read.

They were letters written about me by students who were in my classes.  As I read through the letters, strong and deep emotions surged and tears welled up in my eyes.  And I reflected on my life.

I started a teaching career late in life and was the first in my family to get a university degree.  I grew up in Downey.  My father was a milker at a dairy and started working when he was 13, however, he instilled pride in what you do and a strong work ethic.  I went to on to be sailor in the US Navy, carpenter in Northern California, tuna fisherman and coffee farmer in Hawaii, waiter in Quintana Roo, and various other jobs such as restaurant owner/cook, outreach worker for veterans in need, and community organizer.  Through a stroke of luck a friend convinced me to become a teacher.  Reluctantly I started studying for a career which I thought would not be for me.  I felt I was a man of the world, seasoned traveler and would be bored working in a classroom.  I was never more wrong.

When I finished reading the portfolio, I took in a big sigh and realized that teaching was what I was meant to do.  Although I was now learning about olive farming, brick masonry, and attending educational conferences and classes here in Spain, it was not the same as being in the classroom with the students, experiencing their successes and their hard times and most of all learning from them. 

Shortly after, my son and daughter in law, along with my two grand daughters, told my wife and I that they would like to come back to the Long Beach area to live;  I was excited, elated and ready to go.  Yes, I’ll miss the olive trees, the cold mountain winters and that fire place, but if we didn’t return, I would have missed teaching more.

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