Celebrating My Buddy Teacher's 70th Birthday!

My teaching buddy celebrated his 70the birthday recently in Toronto

Herb and I go back a long time! He was my best friend on staff while I was teaching  at one of the middle schools in Toronto in the 1990's.

A beautiful birthday cake for Herb!

I was young and on my way up in my career. Herb and I were teaching on the same Grade 6 team. I was teaching a special education class while Herb was a regular class teacher. It was a fairly big staff with almost fifty teachers.

Many people came to celebrate with Herb on his special day.

 It is funny that in our lives, we could work with some colleagues for many years yet unable to develop any real friendship or relationships beyond the "how are you" superficial level.

 But Herb and I hit it off during my first year at the school. During the course of my teaching career, I was fortunate enough to make at least one really good friend for life at each school where I taught.





 We had a lot of fun together! V.P. had the best staff I had ever worked with. While many people experienced Monday blues calling in sick after the weekend, I never had this problem while teaching at V.P.

I loved going to teach everyday; I could hardly wait jumping out of bed and going to work! All because of teachers like Herb!

I had a blast teaching with Herb in the same school many years ago

Students were not the only ones looking forward to lunch recess. Teachers too!

 I remembered every lunch hour rushing down to the staffroom, taking my position at our favourtie lunch table with my teaching buddies, taking out my lunch, eagerly comparing our lunches with each other as if we were kids, chatting and telling jokes with each other.

The birthday boy!

Herb, the birthday boy, was the life of the party, always making us laugh with his never ending Newfie jokes along with hilarious stories from Ossie, Dalaney, Carter, Deb, Cummins and Hicks.

 What a whale of a time we had every lunch hour at school!

Teaching can be very stressful  in a middle school dealing with unpredictable and mischievous teenagers as we assume many roles besides teaching.


However, I was lucky to have worked with dedicated teachers who were open, friendly, welcoming and with a great sense of humor.

Herb was the first one on staff who went out of his way to make me feel welcome and a part of the school community. If I had a tough day, he would say something funny to make light of the situation. He would drop by my classroom and say hello to me or something wacky to make my day.

The birthday boy cutting his cake!

 It was teachers like him who helped lessen the stress and made teaching a lot of fun.


We went through some challenges in our personal lives respectively later on but Herb and I collaborated together and covered each others' classes when the needs arose.









We created a fun and happy learning environment for our students as we planned and worked well together.

There were so much delicious food served at the party!

We often partnered together and took our kids to field trips such as the Jays baseball games at the Skydome, a week long outdoor education program at the Sheldon Valley Outdoor Education Centre for at least two to three years.

Everybody at V.P. knew that Herb and I were really good friends and I was sure some of them were jealous of our friendship.

My favorite dish at the party -Winterbrew Chicken Curry made with beer!

We also worked on a board wide committee as co chairs and organized a successful full day professional development program for all the elementary school teachers at the board of education

Those were hectic busy but wonderful days!







Herb has become my best friend, and a family friend.  One summer in the 2000's, m husband and I flew to Newfoundland to visit him and his family for a taste of the Newfie culture and life style.

We were not disappointed! The famous hospitality of the people of Newfoundland and Herb's relatives were heart warming. It was a memorable trip for us!






Herb retired in the early 2000's while I went on to take up new responsibilities at other schools.

We still keep in touch with each other over the years.  We were delighted to receive the invitation to Herb's 70th birthday as we would not miss this for the world!

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Herb is living downtown in a beautiful condo on the 32nd floor with a commanding view of downtown Toronto.

It was a good opportunity for us to visit him in his new luxurious abode.

There were quite a few people at the party. It did not surprise me at all to see all those wonderful people celebrating with Herb's milestone birthday.

Herb has this ability to make friends across all age groups

That is the kind of guy he is: outgoing, gregarious, friendly, helpful and a people person.

The Roger Building as seen from Herb's living room.

It doesn't matter where he goes, Herb will always make a lot of friends.

Herb's downtown condo commands an excellent view of Toronto!

I was thrilled to visit him at his new beautiful condo, had the opportunity to catch up with one of my best friends from my youthful teaching days.

A beautifully handmade quilt!

It was indeed a joy and a privilege for us to be a part of this special celebration with him!

Happy 70th birthday, Herb! May there be many happy returns!

R.T.
Toronto
p.s. I love handmade quilts! Using beautiful quilts made by his loved ones from down east to decorate his downtown condo, Herb has created  for himself an oasis in this urban metropolis. The quilts are so awesome, I have to include them here! 

Home made quilts adorn Herb's bedroom wall