I brought you a toddler (she was only 4!) six years ago.

She came to you with a tendency to wander, without her Rs fully formed-

And you took her in, with open arms.

You showed her how to be a friend, find her Rs, to wander only at wandering times.

You showed her how to write herself into worlds of her own creation. How to be an ally, an advocate, an activist.

She found a love of art, science, and above all, people- as she perfectly formed words of her own to describe her wonder with the world.

You organized her, prioritized her, and showed me that when I may have been distracted and not entirely tuned in at home- you had it covered at school.

You called me, or emailed me and said things like “our Celia” which although is second nature to you by now, it was something that overwhelmed me with support.

It made me see that to teach and to love are only separated in the dictionary, but in your classroom, they are one in the same.

Raising a daughter and showing her the world is overwhelming at times. You want her to be everything and not pressure her to be anything. You want people to see her but you don’t want her to feel bad about being in the background.

You saw my daughter. You saw her needs. You saw the spirit inside of her ready to form Rs to Read, to Recite, to Reach up and out for the next piece of information she couldn’t wait to learn.

She leaves you with a tendency to wander, a deep love of everything, and she has formed so much more than her Rs.

She has a foundation- a foundation built by the women who taught her, the women who loved her, the women who first told her she was smart.

So if you see her in the coming years, wandering about- please know- she takes *you* with her as she wanders- she has *you* in her heart.