FORGET-ME-NOT

In June of this year I was released from my calling as the Valiant Girls primary teacher.  Needless to say I was not to thrilled with this release but I was put in as the Activity Days leader so I would still get a chance to see the AMAZING girls that I was teaching.  I was also put in as the Primary Music Leader so I was still going to get the chance to be around them in sharing / singing time.  Yet there comes a time when each one of these beautiful girls that I have taught turns 12 and moves on to the Young Women's program. Needless to say this is kind of a sad time for me.  I am sure they are happy about it and excited to be moving, growing up and no longer be called a "primary" child. This year there have been 3 girls turn 12 and leave my class / primary.  These girls have changed my life for the better and I have grown to love in ways that I never thought would be possible.  While I am not a mother in some small way I have gotten a little blink of what motherhood is like.  I have grown to care about and love these girls so much.  I have been able to see their amazing beauty (inside and out) and watch their amazing talents grow.  I want the best for them, have tried to encourage them and remind them just how much they are loved. In so small way they have become "my" girls.  Just as a mother is sad to see her child leave she is happy and excited for the new steps and adventures that await their child.  Sure they will see their child again but that child might not need them as much as they once did and that is hard.  I know that I will still get to see these girls in church and I will do my best to always keep in touch with them.  But I do know that as they grow they will have new adventures and things that take place in their life and keeping in touch with their old primary teacher may not be that big of priority.  So as each one of "my" girls has left I have given them a little special gift and something I want them to always remember from me. There is this beautiful Willow Tree Forget -Me-Not figurine that I give them.  I give them this gift not because I want them to not forget me but for them to not forget how much they are loved.  I want them to look and the figurine and have it remind them of how much they are loved by their family, their friends, their teachers and most of their Heavenly Father.  I want them to know that now matter where they go in life, what they do and what path they take that they will never be forgotten and they will always be loved.  And if by small little change I am lucky they might look at the figurine and be reminded of that "old" primary teacher they had in the Valparaiso Ward and know how much she loves and will never forget them.