You'll Get There, Ode to Birdie West
You’ll Get There, Ode to Birdie West…
When I was young I was anxious and eager, maybe a little too anxious and eager. One of my favorite high school teachers, Ms. Birdie West, encouraged me to slow down. Just like any other kid, I wanted to know why and how things worked. If something was new to me I wanted to take a closer look at it. I didn’t have a green thumb and I’d never seen an actual greenhouse before. When I was on lunch break in Junior High, I used to look across the road at the bigger kids at the Senior High School. One day while at lunch I decided to walk across the road and wander around a bit at the high school. I was so curious about the building made of glass near the hockey field. I made it across the road but not too much further than that. As I was making my way across the hockey field towards the greenhouse, a teacher approached me with a puzzled face, “Can I help you?” I didn’t respond and just walked back across the road. I never got to see the inside of that glass building that particular day but during my future sneaky visits across the road, I noticed how the girls looked curvier and a lot softer than the girls in my Junior High classes. Yep, I was curious about everything, and I certainly looked at everything.
When I finally got into high school I made sure that I had a class in that building made of glass. And it turned out to be one of my best decisions ever. Ms. Birdie West absolutely loved teaching us about horticulture and the life of plants. She was a dedicated teacher who sincerely cared about all of her students. And what I admired most about Ms. West was her nature walks around the high school. On certain days, she would take us on a walk through the wooded area behind the school, and along the way she would talk about the natural wonders surrounding us. Ms. West had this cool way of telling us about plants while simultaneously teaching us about life. I remember her saying, “Every plant has its season. Everything has its time.” When I would tell her about the many different things I wanted to do in life, she would calmly tell me that we can’t rush plants and flowers to bloom early. Each plant and flower will bloom when it’s the right time. With a slight wink and a nod, Ms. West would coolly say, “Slow down, you’ll get there.”
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I owe a lot to all of my teachers in Spotsylvania County, but the ones such as Ms. Birdie West really stands out. I don’t think I could’ve written my third novel ‘False Dandelions’ if I hadn’t taken her horticulture class all those years ago. Sadly, Ms. Birdie West is no longer with us, but I’ll never forget her… And while you’re on your own path, chasing your own dreams and desires, it’s okay to slow down, you’ll get there.? – Randolph Randy Camp