LifeWays Training Graduation

When I graduated from LifeWays about ten years ago, I spoke at the ceremony on behalf of our group. Yesterday, while clearing out my bookshelves, I came across the speech. This time of year, the heat, the humid air, the outdoor activities with the children all remind me of my training experience. Presently, we are putting together a group for the training in Buffalo that will begin this fall. With a feeling of coming full circle, of gratitude and awe, I am sharing the graduation speech below. Time has passed but the sentiments remain the same. "I am grateful to speak on behalf of the LifeWays graduates today and we are all grateful to the mother of LifeWays, Cynthia Aldinger, our dear teacher; to our mentors; and our families who supported us by doing their best to get by without us for three weeks over the summer. Finally or perhaps firstly, we would like to acknowledge all the young children who in Wordsworth's words are "trailing clouds of glory" for they open our hearts and bring us to our senses again and again. Last summer, this group of women met when we participated in the Foundations of Early Childhood class in Maine. When we discovered the meaningful content and engaging presentation, we wanted more than that course and we found out there was more. There was (and is) a LifeWays certification training to partake in, a program that painted a broad but in depth picture of early childhood and allowed each of us to enter into it wherever we were and to take it wherever we will. When the course ended, we went back to our work and during the year, we started doing things differently; making both big and subtle changes. One of us has a new job, another has a baby on the way and another changed her program by extending the day. So when we arrived to study this summer, we were a group of seven women who were ready to learn and we knew why. We had tasted both the training and its benefits. Although seven seems a small number, this group of women represents four countries, even four continents. Our experience with children is collectively extensive although some are just beginning that work. We have unique talents, a shared dedication to home, to ourselves, to our connections with each other and all living things, to the spirit that lives in you and me and in every dear child and parent we meet. Through this training, we feel as if we have been welcomed home, home with a light in the window. Thank you."