Old Friends....21º

Herb and I had a lunch date on Thursday...We met Carol and Gail, Bud and Cass, long time friends from my work at the Joseph Schools...Carol was the Deputy Clerk (she wrote our paychecks and tried to keep the Superintendent, Teachers and School Board in line as far as the finances went). Bud was Custodial Surpervisor (in charge of buses, janitorial duties in and outside of the building). I was the Cafeteria Supervisor (in charge of the school kitchen and making sure students and staff were well fed).

Many years that we worked there were what I call the "Glory Days"...Money, not plentiful, but adequate, long time administrators, who really cared about the people that worked for them and had the students best interests at heart...We worked as a unit for the benefit of the students and the community...Things began to change when our Superintendent of 30+ years retired and now the new Superintendent was intent on furthering his career and building his résumé...No longer were the "students" of prime importance and "staff" had to learn to take care of themselves...Guess it was time we grew up...And grow up we did and we, the classified staff, learned to stick together...Incompetent Administrative Staff came and went, State funding dwindled, cuts were made...A one time cohesive unit was now fractured...Certified staff pitted against the classified staff...We Bud, Carol and I became better friends, watched out for each other and our programs as we struggled on, hoping the next administrator would be the one to put it all back together again...But, the "Glory Days" were over and couldn't be fixed...I lucky or unlucky I ended up taking a medical retirement because of vertigo, Bud and Carol still a few years away from retirement stuck it out going from bad to okay and back to worse before they were able to throw in the towel.

Now we get together over lunch about twice a year usually to reminisce about the "good ole days" or the "not so good ole days"...But this year our topics seemed to be more about the weather, grandkids, health issues and how did we get so old?..They say time heals all wounds and it seemed to have worked, at least for now...Hugs to all...  OWAV:)