Lola Snively!

Today my roommate Elise was drawing a flower and it made me think of how in my childhood I knew a man who was an artist and he drew all of his pictures based entirely around music components (ie he would draw a rose bud by first turning a treble clef upside down and loosening its ends to creat the swirl and leaves of the rose.) Anyway, really ingenious guy. He was married to my second grade teacher, which made me realize how humble and quaint a lifestyle they live, which reminded me oh so dearly of said teacher, Mrs. Lola (ann?) Snively.

(For the record, she actually popped randomly into my head twice today. I knew a spotlight was imminent)

I can sincerely trace my love for all things eccentric, all humor quirky, all brain exercises effective, all songs unknown, and all love unfeigned back to Mrs. Snively.

Every morning she would sing a song with us. Lollipop Tree, 12 Days of Christmas, America the Beautiful, you name it. She knew it.

She used to spank us on our birthdays! hahah! And in such odd ways, it was so funny.

She is the master of odd voices and character impersonations. And I know it wasn't just my little child mind that was entertained by anything; she really was good.

She had themed days (Sandwich, watermelon, Christmas Around the World, etc) which were all AWESOME!

One day "Amelia Bedelia" came to our class (it was really her dressed up) (We didn't know that) (Or at least pretended not to) and she was pulling some Amelia Bededlia joke about stars and she put her hands on my shoulders and said, "This one looks like a star!" It honored me so greatly. She didn't need to be Amelia to do that, though.

She forced me to overcome a very daunting fear of times tables and learn all my multiplication facts.

Speaking of learning, she had the most creative ways to foster such an activity. One such way was gum books: do the problems within, get a piece of gum!

Can creativity be learned? I don't know, but it can definitely be taught, and she did so for me.

When I think of Mrs. Snively, I think of this crazy, wide-eyed, lady with big classes and bouncy, curly, brown hair waving on top of her head with knobby fingers pointing and dancing in my face, plaid, pleated skirts trailing behind as she hopped from one end of the classroom to the other, telling fantastic tales of umbrellas on buses and teddy bears with friends. I think of kind-hearted sincerity and light-hearted humor, good and wholesome dedication to others and other dedication to all things good and wholesome. I think of fun and life and laughter; wisdom and truth and comfort. And I think of the classmates with me who were graced by her influence and touched by her very obvious care and love, each one of them somewhere in the world, that much better off for the lady who taught us to

stand in straight lines
respect our elders
laugh every moment
do our own work
learn to think better
be quiet in quiet times
be loud when we could
care for each other
make everything fun
read good stories
and love life,

even

Mrs. Snively.