Ms. Benson will always be my FAVORITE teacher....

I got a call last night from Moms of course telling me that my beloved kindergarten teacher, Ms. Benson had passed away. Why does my Mom think it's her job to track all who have died or are near death in Alabama, I swear she is an Obituary Voyeur, nah, fah reel!!!

Anywho, I had not seen Ms. Benson in over 15 yrs, but I can still remember her laugh and her smell, she kinda smelt like peppermint, which she always had, which I later found out why, because she was a serious cigarette smoker.

She never did call me Trinita, in her class I was known as "Punchanella".
Now if you are from the South you remember the chant.

"Look who's here, Punchanella, Punchanella.
Look who's here Punchanella, Punchanella in the shoe.
Oh what can you do Punchanella, Punchanella?
What can you do Punchanella in the shoe?"

Of course that was when I broke out with my dance, be it "The Around The World" or "The Firecracker/Popcorn" you know I was ready!!!

I remember burning my fake bear skin coat on our class heater. Ms. Benson put out the fire, I just knew she had saved my life. It was just a small burn, but I just knew it was ovah!!
DON'T play ya'll remember those psuedo-fur coats, that you swore were some type of rat or dog or bear...


I got the following from a friend it was so applicable. I will always remember Ms. Benson for calling me "Punchanella", telling me I was pretty and a very smart little girl and giving me a buncha peppermints.
If you are a teacher, I love you, because you make the least amount of $ and you really, really do the most work.

May peace be upon Ms. Bensons' soul....

What will matter
By Michael Josephson © 2003

Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end. There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days. All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten will pass to someone else.

Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance. It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.

Your grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies will finally disappear.

So too, your hopes, ambitions, plans and to do lists will expire. The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away. It won't matter where you came from or what side of the tracks you lived on at the end. It won`t matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant. Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.
So what will matter?
How will the value of your days be measured?
What will matter is not what you bought but what you built, not what you got but what you gave. What will matter is not your success but your significance. What will matter is not what you learned but what you taught.
What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.

What will matter is not your competence but your character. What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a lasting loss when you're gone. What will matter is not your memories but the memories that live in those who loved you. What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.
Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident. It's not a matter of circumstance but of choice.

Choose to live a life that matters.