Follow the Yellow Brick Road!

Friday night was a big night for the Sedlak Family. 

Follow the Yellow Brick Road.... Happy Retirement, Pat!

It was my mom's SURPRISE Retirement Party.

It was pretty hard for the 3 of us- Daddy, Liz, and me- to keep a secret from my mom.  I really don't know how we all managed to pull it off.  I give a LOT of credit to the 2nd grade team at Middle Smithfield.  How they managed to hide all the party planning from my mom is beyond me!  I was actually kinda happy to live away during all of this- it was hard enough to just talk to my mom as often as I do and not blow the surprise!!

Anyway, everything went perfectly.  Liz and I had told her that we wanted to take her out for a belated Mother's Day dinner when I was home.  She thought we were wonderful, thoughtful daughters.... and I guess we still actually owe her a Mother's Day dinner... ha!  She was completely surprised when we made it down to the room where the party was- she stood there for a full 30 seconds just in absolute shock.  I can't wait to see the pictures of her face!

The theme was "Wizard of Oz", one of my mom's favorite movies.  It was pretty hilarious to see my mom with a Dorothy wig on!

Daddy, Mommy in her wig, me and Liz.  I have no idea what my face is all about, but it cracked me the heck up when I saw this picture!

It's still kind of shocking to me that I have parents that are old enough to retire from something.  Maybe it's because my parents sure as heck don't act their age, and I don't really feel 29.  But, my mom is retiring.  After 32 years of teaching at home in East Stroudsburg, and in Newark, NJ, it is definitely well deserved.  She has dedicated a lot of time and energy to her job- and she truly loves what she does.  We are very excited for her too.  It's a whole new chapter and beginning for the 4 of us, and I can't wait to see what she does post-retirement!

So, I'll end with the speech that I wrote.  It's pretty hard to write about someone I love as much as I love my mom.  There were so many things that I wanted to say.  But between my speech, the letter that Randy wrote to my mom, and the fabulous speech my sister gave, I think we did a pretty good job of summing her up!!

Hi Everyone.  I’m Pat’s oldest daughter, Meghan.  I wanted to start by thanking you all for being here today to share in my mom’s retirement celebration.  I know it means a lot to her to have each and every one of you here with us today.

I still remember when my mom started working in the district.  She started out as a substitute at my elementary school, JM Hill, when I was in first grade.  I remember tracking my mom down wherever she was in the school, and trying to get her attention by frantically waving at her from the hallway.  I’m sure she was thrilled by that.  I also remember she was a substitute on a field trip- to Trexler Game Preserve- and I kept getting myself in trouble for finding my mom and not staying with my chaperone. 

She was hired to teach 2nd grade at Middle Smithfield when I was in 2nd grade.  I was so excited- I thought I was so cool to have my mom as a teacher.  Clearly I didn’t realize what that really meant!  Not that I was by any means a bad kid- but it meant I could NEVER be a bad kid- because all of my teachers knew my mom was a teacher.  Just the thought of them being able to call her at any second and report my bad behavior was enough to keep me walking the straight and narrow! 

Having a teacher for a mom meant my sister and I had someone who was just as excited as we were about snow days and summer vacation.  We also had someone who was just as depressed as we were when summer vacation came to an end.  It meant being tricked into educational family vacations- although I’m not sure what the educational value was in our family cruise this past summer!

It also meant that Lizzy and I had a mom that had a lot on her plate with a busy career, but still managed to find time to read with us at night, help us with our homework, sit down for family meals together, and have random polka parties in the rec room. 

She always found time to take us to dance classes, gymnastics, and Friday night football games.  She was my brownie leader, then my senior Girl Scout leader in high school.  She volunteered as a band parent and a cheerleading parent- and dragged my dad along for all of that too. 

It seems that there was always a lesson to be learned, or something to be taught when you have a mom that’s a teacher.  For instance- it’s NEVER “yea”, it’s always “YES” (I still correct myself when I happen to make that mistake).  There’s a LOT of power in one LOOK (enough to make even marines look away and think twice about whatever they are doing- or about to do!)  But most importantly, my mom taught me to be the person that I am today.  I realized a few years ago that I am, in fact, my mother’s daughter.  And that’s really not such a bad thing to be!

So, Mommy, congratulations on everything you have accomplished, all the lives that you have changed, and the differences you have made in your students’ lives.  I love you very much, and can’t wait for your first post-retirement visit to help me move to North Carolina!

  

the 4 of us! :)