Think of Me

Last week was a sad one for the Wawasee community.  The longest employee of the school system, mentor and friend to all fell ill at school and collapsed.  She was airlifted to Parkview Hospital, but never responded.  In the thoughts of all early Saturday morning and surrounded by her family, she died early Saturday morning.  I was heartbroken when Paula texted me to let me know.

I spent the rest of the day thinking about Cyndi.  I had spent eleven years sitting beside her at our monthly library board meetings.  Her honest opinions were not always appreciated by all, but I thoroughly enjoyed serving with her.  After the meetings we would sit and talk catching up on our common interests - family, Purdue vs. IU, the school system, books and musicals.  She was one of the few people in Syracuse who knew my brother.  She shared memories of him with me many times which I completely enjoyed.  As my own children started high school she became my eyes and ears at the always keeping me informed on what was happening with them or with the student population in general.  Both Brett and Cal had her as an AP English teacher with Brett spending even more time with Mrs. Thornburg as one of her drama students.  When I would grow concerned about anything she would reassure me that she had had the same worries as a mother and it would work out fine.  Although she taught in the public school system for decades she was extremely supportive when I told her that we were enrolling Cameron in private school.  She was sad that she would never have Meg as a student, but was happy that Meg found a school that would challenge her academically while supporting her as a person.

When I found out that Cyndi's memorial service was this evening I considered selling my Phantom of the Opera tickets.  Another teacher had done so earlier in the week.  The more I thought about it the more I knew in my heart that she would never have wanted me to miss the performance.  I had used my teacher bonus to purchase the tickets several months ago and had talked about it ever since.  I told Paula this morning my decision and she completely agreed with me.  She even let me in on a little secret, the first song played this evening at the service was to be "Think of Me".  Listening to the opening song tonight all I could think was what a wonderful way to honor my friend by listening to Think of Me at a Broadway performance of one of her favorite operas.