Bonds between two people or groups may be formed in many different ways and for many different reasons, or for no reason at all. A feeling of a bond may be from one side and not a real bond. However, the feeling can be a strong one.
At different times during my teaching years, I formed bonds with various students, with some lasting even to this day.
The, perhaps, one-sided “bond,” felt by me alone was formed many years ago on a cold, wintry, gray day at Milton High School.
While grading papers after school in my classroom on one of those cold, wintry evenings, when the school had been vacated by almost everyone else, I kept hearing a good bit of noise outside my classroom.
My room abutted the bus ramp on the north end of the building. There were no windows on the wall on that side of the room. As I could not see what was going on there at the bus ramp, long after the buses normally would have run, I went outside to investigate.
I found a group of students playing in the frigid wind, trying to keep warm. They told me their bus was broken down on the Yellow River Bridge, and they were waiting for another bus to take them home to Holly.
When I invited them into my room to keep warm while they waited for their bus, they readily accepted. They were well-behaved while reading or working on homework. The wait was well over an hour, perhaps two. With shorter days, it was dark when the bus finally came.
One or two of the students occasionally engaged me in their conversations, usually about hunting or ball games.
Finally, they, and I, were able to go home.
The next morning before school, a group of eight or ten boys came trudging into my classroom and sat in the front seats in front of my desk. They were shy and hesitated to talk. I asked them what was on their minds. Their “spokesperson” asked if I would “sponsor” a Holly Club.
Kind of smiling to myself, I maintained a serious expression, telling them that I would not sponsor a Holly Club, especially since Holly boys segregated themselves enough already without having their own club. Disappointed, they trudged out.
Nonetheless, from that day forward, I always had a tender spot in my heart, a bond from my point of view, for Holly kids.
Doris Melvin Kingry , retired English and Journalism teacher, was first woman elected to public office
in Santa Rosa County where she served eight years. She is a native Santa Rosan, living where her
family has lived for several generations.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Bonds sometimes last a lifetime