February 10 – sidekick, ball, chain

201/365 – people to thank who have had an impact on me. Every Superhero needs a sidekick to help him or her out. Usually the sidekick is the one who gets the Superhero out of situations by being there to save the day! This is the same in the workplace – there are sidekicks who help out in all sorts of ways and the only reason I refer to one as the sidekick is that they aren’t always the one receiving top billing. I have been both Superhero and sidekick over the years and sometimes even worked as an amazing team of Superheroes but for the sake of this gratitude post, I’m going to talk about a person who supported me as sidekick to eventually where I became sidekick. Early in my teaching career, some of the senior girls approached me to sponsor their cheer dance squad. I knew nothing about the sport but I knew that they needed an adult supervisor. I said yes and then immediately approached two other teachers – one being a counsellor named Moreen. Moreen and I got to know each other at Burnett and although she would never reveal her age (and yes, I don’t have enough decorum not to ask a woman her age!!), we shared the same birthdate! Moreen and I worked on that dance squad with a third co-worker and spent more time with the team than the average glamour sport coach (by this I mean basketball or volleyball) and we had away tournaments all over the place plus we had divas on the team when there was no such term 😉 However, we had a great time and Moreen even went back into her aerobics vernacular and brought out the “kick, ball, chain” routine. The two of us really bonded over this experience and became closer friends after that. We also ended up as two of four teacher sponsors on a trip to Europe and led a small group of students to the Leaning Tower of Pisa and almost lost a traveler in the Coliseum – oh wait, that was Moreen taking pictures 😉 Yes, we had our laughs on that trip. It’s kind of sad that once one moves on from a job, they lose touch with people that were close co-workers but the whole purpose of these gratitude posts is to let them know they mattered! Thanks Moreen for making my time at Burnett awesome and for being a good friend to me! Happy July 25^th to us!!