Oh, What a Night!

February 12th has been a special date for many, many years. It's my grandparent's anniversary. They're probably one of the most loving couples I know and they just celebrated 62 years of marriage this week. It's also the date that Mat and I started dating. He and I began dating on my grandparent's 50th anniversary....nearly 12 years ago. We also do a little something special on the day, even if it's just having a nice home cooked meal together. Little did I know just how special this February 12th would be. It was the night of the Teacher of the Year Banquet for Polk County.

As honored as I was to be attending the event, representing my school, I must admit I wasn't totally looking forward to it. I'm not big on public attention and just the idea of it makes me nervous. Plus, I was really struggling to come up with anything appropriate to wear and the idea of squeezing my pudgy, swollen feet into some cute shoes was just making my pj's and couch sound pretty tempting! I tried to make the best of it though. I decided on wearing pants and a blouse, to try to be more comfortable, figuring "Who really cares what I'm wearing anyways?" I bought some flats so that I wouldn't trip and fall in walking down the red carpet. I scheduled an appointment to get my hair trimmed and a blow-out so that it was one less thing I had to mess with. My mom flew in to attend the banquet, so after work on Thursday evening the 3 of us set off for the Lakeland Center. Mat and my mom went ahead into the event while I went to a reception with the other Teachers of the Year. We each received a plaque and had our picture taken with the Superintendent. During my picture, her and I even joked that I was just hoping to make it through the night without going into labor. Then, they lined us up to make our grand entrance into the hall. Just by luck I happened to be standing close to the front of the group. We walked in and down a red carpet, and then to our table to find our guests. There was a bright spotlight shining in our faces so I couldn't see a thing as I was walking and I was just praying not to fall!! Then, after a brief presentation the night got started and we enjoyed a nice meal.

After the meal they got started with awards for School-Related-Employee of the Year. Besides nominating a Teacher of the Year, each school also nominated an employee of the year. It can be anyone from a custodian to a secretary or food service worker. Each school nominates 1 of each. So there were 12o Employees of the Year and 120 Teachers of the Year. They started announcing 8 finalists for the School Related Employee of the Year, and then began with Teacher of the Year. I figured I had NOTHING to worry about. I'd even just put a stick of gum in my mouth!! Sure, it would be a huge honor to be a finalist but didn't seem realistic at all that those odds would be in my favor. They'd gotten through 2 or 3 finalists when they started describing the next one. It went something like this..... "This next finalist is a 2nd grade teacher." Hmmm, yes I am but there are probably tons of others! "She has been teaching for 8 years." Trying to do the math in my head to figure out if that's how long I'd been teaching. LOL "She teaches at Highland City Elementary." Holy crap, that's ME!!!!! That's when my picture popped up on the jumbo tron (posted above). Oh my goodness! I quickly took my glasses off as I realized that now that dumb spotlight was on me again. I had to walk over the red carpet and they escorted me up on stage. It's all kind of a blur then. They were reading stuff about me, but I really couldn't tell you a word that was said. I was so darn nervous about falling! I went up on the stage and received flowers, a check, another plaque and had more pictures taken with the Superintendent. It seemed like forever that I had to just stand there in front of those hundreds of people while they were reading stuff. By the time I got back to my table, I was shaking like a leaf!

Besides the nervousness and stage fright, it was such a special moment and evening. Who would've ever known how it would turn out? God has been so good to me. I just don't feel deserving of all the good fortune that has come my way. What a blessing! As the night went on, out of the 8 finalists they picked 1 winner to be the county Teacher of the Year. Obviously, not I, probably a good thing as I might have gone into shock if I actually had to speak on that stage! But nevertheless, I was just in complete awe and shock being called as a finalist.

This weekend, my picture, along with the 7 others will be featured in a full page spread in the newspaper. Beginning in a couple weeks our 8 pictures will be featured on the McDonald's tray liners in the county. My students love the idea that they can squirt ketchup all over my face! ;) haha Also, they're coming next week to film me in the classroom and do a brief interview on what it means to be Teacher of the Year. It will be running on the local cable channels. It was such an amazing night and felt like a dream! In the end, I didn't really care what I was wearing or how swollen my feet were. I was thinking what a blessing to have a job I love and a baby on the way. What a night!