When I was in elementary school I gave apples to my teacher that were grown from our apple orchard.  On the way to school I'd breathe on it and shine it on my shirt so it would be nice and shiny for her.  Now that I think back on it, I hope she washed it before she ate it.  Ha, ha! 

One of my teachers commented on how much she liked my apples and how thoughtful she felt I was for giving them to her.  I guess it made her feel pretty good.  I just wanted my teacher to know that I liked her and I wanted her to like me back.  Now that I'm a teacher I get little mementos from MY students.  Often it's a homemade card or a picture they've drawn for me.  All of which I LOVE, but every once in awhile something really touches my heart and I want to tell everyone about it. 

The other week I had several experiences like this.  They seem really basic and may not seem like a big deal, but to me they were pretty special.  One morning a student named Tayton came into the classroom and with a super BIG smile he pulls a peach out of his backpack and hands it to me telling me, "This is for you!".  It caught me by surprise the way he gave it to me.  It was one of those charming moments that you can't really explain in writing.  Anyways, I of course felt very happy to see him being so sweet and I told him how thankful I was and how sweet he was and then told him how peaches were my favorite fruit.  He then handed me a little love note, written on a small yellow sticky note, and on it said some really cute things.  It really was sweet! 

Well, that day passed and then for days and days I'd get more peaches from other students.  They had heard me say that I liked peaches so everyone wanted to give me one.  It was adorable!  One of the funniest was from my student Zerin.  He brought me a CAN of peaches!  Later on I laughed and laughed at how sweet it was and hoped that his mom had given him permission to give me this gift.  I don't know why it made me laugh so much, but I think it was the culmination of receiving so many peaches as gifts. 

The peach gifts don't end there.  Earlier a student named Kirsten also brought me some with some DE-LISH chocolate chip cookies and then the other day I came back to school, after going through chemo, and an entire bagful of peaches welcomed me back.  This bag was from two of my former students whose names are Hallie and Carter, and they had dropped theirs by while I was absent.  Every one of these gifts sure touched my heart.  Thanks everyone! 

All these peaches have made me think of how blessed I am to know so many wonderful children and I think I understand how MY teachers felt when I brought apples to them.  I feel very loved and I can now say with sincerity that peaches are my favorite fruit AND I'll never look at them the same way again.  They've always reminded me of my happy childhood of growing them in our fruit fields and of my mom canning them in our kitchen, but now I have an additional happy memory to associate them with.  They'll forever be a memory of the kind children I taught who loved me during one of the hardest times in my life.  Thank you...my sweet peach givers. I love you!!!  And for the record I like you too.  Thank you!!!!