GRATEFUL FOR A NICE MAN

Right now Tim is talking to a retired principal. A man who is giving him feedback on his resume and cover letter. A man who is taking time out of his weekend to help Tim increase his odds of getting a job for next school year. A man Tim played softball with in the early years of our marriage, years before Tim was ever involved in teaching. A man who was my principal, years before I knew Tim.

 The cool thing about this man is that people from two totally different seasons of my life know who he is. Friends from Brookings know him because he was their principal or the principal of their kids or siblings. Friends from Phoenix and Ashland know him for the same reason or because they went or go to church with him. 

His name is Jeff Schlecht and there are three times in my life that I've been very thankful for him. 

The first time was in December 1991. He had called my dad's place of employment in Brookings for some unknown reason irrelevant to the story. My dad took care of business, then mentioned that he had a daughter at Mr. Schlecht's school (that would be me) who was concerned about missing final exams. You see, at that time my mom was dying and my dad planned on taking my siblings and I on vacation the week after she died. The way things were going it was beginning to look like that vacation would be during finals and I was a little stressed about how my grades would be affected. 

Not to worry. Mr. Schlecht said he'd take care of it. A day or two later I saw all my teachers walking out of his office before school started one morning. He called me in later, saying he'd explained the situation to all of them and given them each two options - let me take my final late without penalty or let me skip it and adjust my grading scale accordingly - and that I could work things out with each teacher individually when I went to their class that day. My mom died a short time later and I went on vacation without any worries about the finals I was missing. 

The second time was in 2005 when Jeff (that's what he'd told me to call him when we reconnected several years later and I was adult) welcomed Tim, who he'd met when they played on a softball team together, into his office one day for a meeting. Tim was at the end of his MAT program in Ashland and Jeff did a mock interview with him, giving him all sorts of useful information that proved helpful in the job application and interviewing process. 

The third time is today. Tim now has several years of teaching under his belt, an administrative license, and really needs a job. We've lost contact with Jeff over the years, but a friend relayed a message from us to him earlier this week and he promptly called Tim to set up a time to talk this weekend. Today, with Tim having several years of experience under his belt and and some different circumstances than last time the two of them talked, Jeff gave Tim helpful feedback, information that Tim can use as he continues applying for jobs. 

If I were to state my feelings like I write many of my Facebook posts, then I guess this is what I'd say ...

Blessings.  Jeff Schlecht.