Flood of emotion.....

If you scroll down & read my post from just a few hours ago about "2006", you will see I randomly talked about my 6th grade teacher Miss Flick...then in the comments, my sister Femmie mentioned she passed away this past year. Wow....that really hit me 'weird'...I can't necessarily say 'hard', so we'll stick with weird. When I read that I instantly remembered so much from that year , 20 years ago......

~I can describe to you in great detail what she looked like...right down to the super curly hair & heavy black eyeliner

~I vividly remember how she LOATHED gum chewing. The woman could smell someone chewing gum in her class. It was very bizarre.

~I remember the exact spot where I sat in her classroom. And the very unusual day there was an earthquake while I sat in that very seat & the lockers next to my desk shook like hell.

~I remember the trip she took to Russia just before school started that year & all the incredible things she shared with us about it. At that time it was still the USSR & she told us stories about the how poor the people were. How weak the ruble was, how she gave all the Levi's she brought with her to some eldery woman she met, so the woman could barter for food with them.

~I remember how much she LOVED rhinoceros. At the end of the year a classmate & I spent hours in the mall, searching for the perfect rhino gift.

~I remember being the first student to finish her yearly "read this list of 20 books" assignment & how she praised me for it.

~And I remember the exact spot she was standing in & the look on her face when the principal announced over the loudspeaker that the Space Shuttle Challenger had exploded just minutes after it's launch. And I remember how she cried.............

It's amazing how I haven't thought of this woman in years & yet this all flooded back to me. And in my usual fashion, it made my mind wander to others who've passed on....many of whom I'll surely see in my dreams tonight...........