Mommen!

Me: Princess, what do you want?

She opens the food cabinet and deliberately grabs the bright orange package of chicken ramen. 

Me: Ooh, ramen?

The Princess: MOMMEN!

Is there anyone cuter on the planet?  I think not. 

Thank you, Mrs. G.

We found out near the beginning of this school year that our local special education district center and programs would be shutting down, effective this summer.  Months of uncertainty and up-in-the-air-ness were followed by the final responsibility of finding another program for The Princess and finding out that her beloved teacher, The Fabulous Mrs. G., would be out of a job as of the end of the school year.

Scary, heartbreaking stuff.

Long story short: we found a great program for The Princess, a program that's been in place for eleven years and is located 20 minutes from home.  New school, new staff, new classmates.  Third grade is gonna be a whole new world.

I've been trying to figure out how to thank The Fabulous Mrs. G. for everything she's done for our girl.  Five years, these two have been together.  I had all these grand plans of making a heartfelt handmade end-of-year gift with a handwritten letter, and then the school year was over.

Here's an excerpt from the email I just sent.  It's not much, but I hope it brings a smile to her face.

***

I am very sorry that we didn't get a chance to see you this spring at the music program or another time before the school year ended.  I wanted to tell you this in person, but email will just have to do, I suppose.

Thank you.

Thank you for being such a huge part of The Princess's life for the past five years.  When we met you, we were all lost and scared.  You have helped our entire family grow into more mature people in so many ways, and there just aren't words to describe how significantly you have impacted our lives.

Thank you for always having her - and our - best interests at heart.  I've heard horror stories from other moms across the country about their special education experiences, and I'm grateful that this was never an issue for us.  Whenever the road got bumpy, you took our hands and led the way.

Thank you for helping to mold our cute little toddler into the gorgeous, confident girl she's growing up to be.  Though I'd like to take all the credit for how awesome she is, I'm under no illusions that we did this all on our own.

Thank you for loving our girl.  One of my favorite parts of every new school year so far has been the open house.  Watching her see you for the first time at the end of summer has always warmed my heart.  For someone who had a very hard time opening up to people for a very long time, I just can't say how much it meant to me when she'd see you across the room and run up with a big grin and hug for her favorite teacher.

Thank you, most of all, for dedicating your life to helping kids like The Princess.  I can't begin to fathom how many little lives you've touched, and I am so grateful that our girl is among those ranks.  It takes a very special kind of person to do what you do, and you do it all with such grace.

We hope you'll keep in touch and let us know how you're doing down the road.  The Hubbs and I would love to hear from you any time, as long as you're up for it.

Good luck, and we wish you all the happiness in the world.  After all, you've helped us find ours.

Love,
Daisy Mae and the Little Yellow House family