“It’s good to see you!”

August 10, 2022 1 Comment

A really strong and wonderful mother, wife, daughter and friend of mine shared this on her Facebook page today. It really resonated with me especially since I know so many of us are preparing for Open House and heading back to our classrooms again. I hope you will take a minute to read it and leave thoughts if any come to mind.

Monica Samas Gregory is feeling thoughtful.

5 hrs  · 

My unsolicited opinion on the social encounters that happen during back-to-school activities:

On any given day, as a society, we seem to have an automatic, Pavlovian-like, verbal dance: “Hi! How are you?” followed by a variation of “Fine! You?” This is altered slightly in the school halls at the end of August to “How was your summer?”

Which is where my two cents come in.

Perhaps this year, we can stick to a simple greeting when bumping into those that we’ve not seen regularly since May. A straightforward “It’s so good to see you!” feels genuine and pleasant, but does not carry with it the mine-field potential of the “how are you/how was your summer?” inquiry.

For some, Summer 2022 may have been glorious; full of trips, adventures, time with family and friends. They will probably volunteer details without prompting. But for many others, the summer brought major change, illness and injury, loss of loved ones, more positive Covid cases, cross-country moves, children cut from sports rosters, etc. Personal aches that no one particularly wants to word-vomit in front of the spirit wear table…

The answer choices to the “how was your summer?” question are honesty (“not so great”), which leads to more questions, and “It was great!” which is probably delivered half-heartedly and insincerely.

Admittedly, I fall into the latter category. Our summer was very….? Even now, I’m at a loss for the right word(s) to encompass it. It’s not even so much that I don’t WANT to define it…. I CAN’T. It was bizarre. Maybe that’s the best word? So, yeah. I guess this post is selfish, to a degree.

“It’s so good to see you!” is a minor edit to our normal script. But, if even just one person in your circle feels a reprieve, might not it be worth it? I know that I’d rather hear “It’s so good to see you!” than answer “how was your summer?” when I head to registration today. But I would guess I’m not the only one.

mohenson

I’m Michele a retired educator who loved every minute of being in the classroom and creating an environment where students loved coming and materials were presented that inspired learning. After retirement 5 years ago I knew I wanted to stay connected to the classroom and education. I began pulling my materials together and creating resources for TpT. I hope you will peek at them!! Together my husband and I have raised three amazing sons who now are busy beginning families of their own. To date I only have one grandson but he is such a joy! My husband, miniature dachshund Rubee, and I love being on the water, boating and walking outside. So if you see sunglasses you know where we are!! Together we spend time at our lake house in Michigan and our winter home in Florida. We are creating so many wonderful memories.

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1 Comment

  • Abby August 10, 2022 at 4:45 pm

    I loved reading this! It’s so simple yet so profound. Thank you for sharing. I am going to do my best to remember to let people know that I am happy to see them and that I’ve missed them. It’s such a better way to make a genuine connection.

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    I’m Michele a retired educator who loved every minute of being in the classroom and creating an environment where students loved coming and materials were presented that inspired learning. Read More

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