My Grandfathers Clock and My Teachers Plant

You may know this old children’s song, it was a favorite of mine and I loved to sing it. Here’s a short version:

My grandfather's clock

 Was too large for the shelf,

 So it stood ninety years on the floor;

 It was taller by half

 Than the old man himself,

 Though it weighed not a pennyweight more.

 It was bought on the morn

 Of the day that he was born,

 It was always his treasure and pride;

 But it stopped short

 Never to go again,

 When the old man died.

 Ninety years without slumbering,

 Tick, tock, tick, tock,

 His life seconds numbering,

 Tick, tock, tick, tock,

 It stopped short

 Never to go again,

 When the old man died.

 This is not exactly the same story, but it’s not a folk legend, it’s real.

My daughter entered kindergarten in Ontario when we moved here, half way through the year, in December, 2000. She spent the first half of the year in Calgary schools, and entered school in Ancaster when we moved. She had the choice of two teachers, and based on a chance recommendation, we chose one of the classes. She had a wonderful classroom experience, and at the end of the school year her teacher gave several children hibiscus plants as a thank you for all the work their parents had done during the year as classroom helpers.

At the end of the summer, her teacher died of cancer, which we had not known about, and we were all shocked. The children sang at her funeral service although were away at the time and didn’t know about it until we returned. This was hard for all of us of course, ands difficult to try and explain to a group of six year old children.

We kept the plant and it bloomed beautifully. Not everyone was concerned about their plants of course, but we felt like part of that teacher was contained in that plant, and it was our last memory of her. As it increased in size we put it into larger and larger pots. Each winter we dragged it to my building so it could winter over in a cool and dark place, and we would bring it home each spring to live in our home and outdoors in our yard.

Over the years we were committed to that plant. And as each continuing year went by,  the plant began to wither, and gradually it was on its last legs.

On June 28, the last leaf went and the plant was dead, the same day as my daughter graduated from high school………