mr preston

The feeling of being with a friend, the comfort was undesirable between us. We spoke for hours about everything and could have spoke for days longer. It was a give and take, a real adult conversation; we were not longer teacher and pupil, we were adults and friends.
I picked up a trip to Bristol because of the three choices of first class positions; I liked this city the best. Well, since I have never actually explored the city but had a great time visiting things surrounding the city. It dawned on me later that Bristol was close to Wales. I have been wanting to go to Wales for quite some time as it just next door to the oh, so familiar England and a part of my heritage stems from there. Another reason I longed to go and visit this country filled with myths and castles is due in part to my jr high teacher.
I had gone to a private school my seventh grade year and was placed in eight grade level since I was the only seventh grader enrolled. There was a click, as there tends to be in middle school, of five. Ken, Curtis, Rachel, Amy and myself. We wore Espirt and Guess and were represented by our favorite color of Skittles. We were inseparatable and adore each other thoroughly. Our teachers were as follows Mr. Wimmer who talk math, Dori who taught health and made us wear sand around for weeks on end, Scott our cool ass science teacher who liked to curse a lot, and finally our main teacher Mr. Preston.
I don’t remember what the first day was like meeting him because he was new to the church group prior to the school year. I do remember loving his accent and listening to him tell stories about Wales. When I look back now, I think he was planting the travel bug in me without my knowledge. It would take years for this bug to actually bite me. The first week he attempted to teach us English, we informed him that he was not suited to do so because he couldn’t even speak it properly. Thus yours truly got the role of the English teacher for the year.
We conjured up so many memories yesterday of things I remembered and then he would remember something. It was humorous to relive those moments that when in mind, only seemed like a few years ago. But alas, it has been twenty.
Cardiff in itself was a great little town. We enjoyed a pint while wandering through the food festival along the bay. We would stop and chat for a while and then move on. I found it necessary to take a ride on the slide and couldn’t convince Steve to be a kid with me. We took an open bus tour, ate some fish and chips and I tried mushy peas. They taste a lot better than they actually look. We went for a drive in the country, and I was not only able to meet his children and connect with his beautiful wife, but I was also taken to the castles of stories
It was such an amazing day, mostly for my soul. Some teachers really do make a life long impact on their students….