I went to a Montessori school when I was 6,7 8. It was owned by a woman who was an amazing teacher, but she fucking hated me. I still don’t understand why.
I was the fat, greasy, Kmart pink pant wearing, your mom dresses you funny with the horrible haircut freak show child. Hi, nice to meet you.
Adults typically saw a toothless chihuahua wearing a tutu in an unnecessary yapping sequence when they looked at me. Not even a mother could love me.
But I was very smart, had a very active imagination, but was quiet and painfully shy, somehow didn’t let the shitty adults around me ruin me and I was sweet, naive and very, very trusting.
So this teacher would pinch me, hit me and get so angry at me for not having proper writing spacing, for not answering her quickly enough. Dumb shit like that. But what really sucked is when she would take my lunch away from me and make me run laps while the other kids ate their lunch and watched me run.
I told my mom, she didn’t believe me.
This teacher went on a trip and her younger brother came to teach the class. He was so international and handsome. I adored him from a distance.
As a reminder, I was the strange kid and I didn’t feel like I belonged with the other kids. So, while they were running and playing, I was in the corner trying to build a fire.
I know your first instincts are “arsonist!” or, this kid is trouble. I didn’t know it was like that. I was just curious and I think I saw it on TV or something. Other days I was a botanist, a ghost hunter or a fort builder. But that day I was playing survivalist with the sticks and rocks available to me.
As I was feverishly scraping two sticks together, this beautiful man… he came over, bent down (I still remember his gorgeous leather shoes), pulled a lighter out of his pocket and lit my little pile of dry leaves on fire. We watched it burn for 8 seconds until it put itself out. I was in awe. The fire was cool, but this man saw me for being the interesting little weirdo that I was without judgement. He was a god to me. I think about him probably a few times a week.
I wish more adults would nurture the weird kids. And, this man is the poster child for the kind of people I want in my life. (ChatGPT nailed the image I asked for… lol)
P.s… Four decades later this woman is still running her Montessori school. She was featured in the local paper. And she said, “Kids these days lack discipline… I don’t mean like physically we should harm them… but mental discipline.” Way to just say it for the press, Mrs. Bruise Maker.
