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SENIOR NEWS

Berkshire Senior , October - November 2022 Elder Services’

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The End of Summer in the City

By Susan Guerrero

Can it really be true that summer is over?

The cool early morning air is the first telltale sign of summer being on the wane.

Could it also be true that local schools have opened once again? It seems like just yesterday everyone was gearing up for summer vacation. Now it’s over. In reality, the summer was a good one with many excursions, events, and enjoyable times in the beautiful Berkshires.

COVID’s ugly tentacles failed to reach into vacation plans and most summer events. The most dangerous times of the pandemic were, thankfully, pretty much a thing of the past. Happy moments of summer have now faded into memories.

The new school year has always been fun to look forward to and to dream about.

In my own childhood home, getting ready for school verged on thrilling. It meant new clothes including shoes that squeaked from newness when we walked in them.

How my parents ever paid for new clothes for five kids is beyond me. They never had much money yet we never went without new duds for school. Another hot item was the coveted pencil box. The actual rectangular box slid inside a top. It contained sharpened pencils, new erasers, some colored pencils and a skimpy little plastic ruler. We thought those boxes were awesome.

First school day jitters caused our hearts to pound extra hard. We anticipated seeing our old friends again but the thought of meeting our teachers always caused some momentary panic. I can remember every single teacher from kindergarten through sixth grade at Bartlett Elementary School on Onota Street. Do you remember your first teachers?

The school’s heavy wooden doors opened when a deafening bell rang out and we filtered into huge, (to little kids), classrooms to hear about the rules and regulations from the teacher. In those days, there were wooden desks with lift-up tops and there was a round ink well in one corner. Inside the desk, we put our school papers, reading books and pencil boxes. So many memories come flooding back about school, despite the passage of more decades than I care to count.

One thing was absolutely true then, as well as now, and that is that teachers were terribly important in the lives of every student. Kids are so impressionable. When a teacher smiles at a student who is shaking in his shoes, and reassures him that everything is going to be okay, suddenly all seems right in the world. Teachers have a huge influence in the lives of their young charges. I wonder if they realize how important they are to kids of all ages, particularly little ones. The earliest lessons I learned in life were not about arithmetic or reading. Instead, they were about kindness and order, creativity, obedience and learning about my place in the classroom and in the world---all taught by teachers. Those lessons were life-long. What a legacy teachers leave for students.

When schools open, hundreds of tomorrow’s citizens will walk into city classrooms.

May each one have a teacher who is knowledgeable, kind, understanding and really wanting to be in the classroom. As for the summer of 2022, we now let it go, like the string of a helium balloon in the hand of a birthday kid. Into oblivion it rises and fades away from view. Now, it’s on to bigger and brighter days ahead and nowadays, without the ol’ pencil boxes. Let the fun and learning begin!

Ombudsman Program

continued from page 3

on their own behalf.

We look forward to Caitlyn beginning to establish relationships with the nursing homes in Berkshire County and promoting this very important program. If you believe you or someone you know should speak with an ombudsman please call (413) 499-0524. If you have a passion for serving others and would like to make a difference in the lives of your Berkshire neighbors please call to learn more about becoming an Ombudsman volunteer.

Just a reminder that October 15 is the beginning of Medicare Open Enrollment (Oct 15 – Dec. 7). Please see the article on Open Enrollment on page 8.

Until next time be good, be kind and be careful.

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