Upde Designs

Happy Saturday!

Yesterday was a fun day.  It started for me with a trip to Anamosa to have lunch with a great friend.  Then back to Dubuque for the celebration of an amazing person and career.

I have three images today and a story.  Remember you can click on any of the images to see a larger more detailed version of the image.

Jeanne has taught special education for 43 years.  An amazing accomplishment given the challenges she has had to face.  Coincidentally we’ve been married 42 of those years and many would say that she has had a good practice subject to perfect her craft.  🙂

I just know that there are a lot of kids over that career that have benefited and have a better life because of her care, concern, teaching, and compassion.  She taught in Missouri for two years and in the Waterloo District for 2 years before we moved to Dubuque and she has been in the Dubuque School System for 39 years.  She retires at the end of this school year after a phenomenal career.

So last week Angie received an email from the School Principle advising her that her Mother was going to be receiving  a special inaugural award that was to be given to the outstanding teacher of the year.  The nominations were made by the students and it was the culmination of a week-long staff appreciation celebration.  There was an assembly Friday afternoon when the award was going to be presented and we could come but had to keep it a secret from Jeanne.  We had to keep it a secret because if she had known about the award she wouldn’t have gone to the assembly.  🙂

So we gathered the grand kids and snuck into the back of the gymnasium where we got to see the whole program and Jeanne’s big award.  There is a phenomenon called cognitive blindness and I used to teach about it at the leadership training I did over the years.  Jeanne was unaware that we were there (even though Josh ran up and gave her flowers) because she was not expecting us to be there and as always she was focused on keeping an eye on her kids.

It was a fitting tribute to an amazing person, teacher, wife, and Mother.  I am truly blessed!

Enjoy your day and be careful.