MARLENE’S ECHOES

Miss Mose and Me Remembered

Yesterday a friend said,
“I taught third grade for twenty years,”
and just like that, my memory
went skipping back through years.

I was a young mother then,
with five children under seven,
walking door to door for signatures,
for a little household leaven.

I came upon an old hotel
where many elders stayed,
and there upon one quiet door
a name made memory parade.

Miss Mose.

I knocked and smiled and asked her,
“Could you be the one I knew?
My third-grade teacher long ago,
when World War II was new?”

She looked at me and asked my name.
I said, “Marlene Zipperian.”
Her eyes grew wide, her mouth fell open—
that look was worth remembering.

Then came the words I never dreamed
my teacher still would say:
“Why did you give me so much trouble?”
after all those years that day!

And then I had to laugh inside,
because I knew what she meant too—
I had my funny little ways
of doing what children do.

I’d wiggle, fuss, and find some trick
to help myself sit still,
a ridiculous little habit
that was really just my will.

Today they teach such things in schools,
to calm a child back down,
but back then I was just “trouble”
in a small third-grade town.

I blushed and said, “I’m sorry.
I apologize to you.”
She laughed and said, “No need, my dear,”
and I began laughing too.

She was one of my favorites,
though I must have kept her busy,
and even now that memory
makes my old heart feel dizzy.

Her father owned the grocery store
near Grandma’s end of town,
where children came for little sweets
when pennies weren’t around.

He’d hide two candies in his hands
and let us guess with care,
but right or wrong, he gave us one—
there was always kindness there.

So yesterday a teacher’s words
opened up a door,
and out came Miss Mose laughing
from 1942 once more.

And maybe what looked like trouble then
was something kinder, too—
a child trying to calm herself
the only way she knew.

If this little memory touched your heart, please like, comment, and share. It helps so much more than you know.

Thank you for reading and walking back through memory with me.