My Family Tree

I taught a lesson in class today about family relationships. I had to explain to the kiddos in English about aunts and uncles, cousins, parents, grandparents and so on and so forth. Well, my best attempt at this was to draw a family tree on the white board. Of course I first drew a picture of myself, Nellie-Teacher, which the kids found hysterical...I did my best to draw a very comical depiction of myself. Then came my brothers, Joe and Scott, and the students squealed their names. Next was mom and dad (mother and father) and of course I had to put their names, Jerry and Eleanor. Then the kids shouted out, "dad name cherry!" It triggered something and I realized how hard it is for me to still deal with my dad's death. I said, "No, not cherry...J-jerry" but my voice still cracked and tears came to my eyes. I had to suck it up. I wanted to cry...but I did not in front of the students...of course not. But wow, after 3 years I still become emotional. Not really a big surprise...but to tear up in front of little kids was quite bizarre and that is what caught me by surprise. I will enter the classroom emotionally prepared the next time family tree time comes around. :-]