My friend, Tammie

I lost a friend this week. Tammie left this world to join her Lord and Savior. She will be missed.

Tammie was the E.A in my classroom the year I taught 2nd and 3rd grade special education at Jolley school. I loved working with her. I would have an idea for a bulletin board or some such thing and she would start fiddling. Before I knew, she would have the board done much better than I had imagined it. She had high expectations for the students and dealt well with my lack of long term lesson plans. I thought we worked extremely well together, if she thought any different she never told me!

Tammie regularly went above what was expected. In addition to the small groups she taught, Tammie worked one on one with a couple of my higher need students. I was amazed at the growth they made that year. And then there were the girls, two sisters who regularly attended school in dirty, ill-fitting clothing. First Tammie brought in clothing from the civic for them, then she started picking up clothes for them when she would be shopping for her own children. Every day she would be sure the girls were clean and school appropriate.

Tammie was happily married to Randy, the man of her dreams. She never complained about him after more than 20 years of marriage. Of course he made her coffee every morning, who doesn't love a man who does that! They had four children. Two Tammie gave birth to, and two they adopted through foster care. Their second daughter died when she was four. Tammie talked of her often. Tammie survived what most of us can't fathom and was still a loving and funny person.

Among other things, Tammie and I shared a love for snow, especially big fluffy flakes when we were snug at home. One day, I saw it was snowing. Tammie and I went over to the window. I commented on the large flakes. Tammie said, "Come on God, you can do better than that." Within two minutes the dime sized snow flakes became quarter sized. I've never seen snow flakes that large. I told her I wasn't praying anymore, from then on I was telling her my prayers because she obviously had a direct line to God. Made sense to me, lose one child and provide a safe and loving home to two who started out with crappy parents, you deserve a direct line.

We only worked together that one year, budgets changed and I found myself teaching at the middle school, for the fist time without an EA in the room. Last November Tammie was diagnosed with brain cancer, she was told she had six weeks to live. She fought for over a year. She died on Tuesday. I'm not going to lie, I'm struggling with it. I don't understand why she, who gave so much, who had lost her daughter, was stricken with cancer. I believe in a loving God, but I don't understand God. I know the last couple months were hard, and I know she was ready to meet Jesus, but I hate that those three children, a daughter in her early 20s, a son in 7th grade and a daughter in 4th, have lost their mother.

What I'm really trying to say is give your kids a hug, appreciate the little joys in life, like snowflakes, and say a prayer for Tammie's family. God bless us everyone.