I decided to post a farewell note since we had such a strange ending to our 2020 school year! We left Highlands for Spring Break in March 2020, and never returned. Our last 9 weeks together were spent doing virtual learning. On the last day of school in May, I returned my school-issued computer laptop and retired from teaching. This was the plan all year, but it sure seemed strange to finish the year and not say goodbye in person!
That same day in May, I put my husband in an ambulance since he had been very sick all week. We wondered if he was sick with COVID, but that was not the case. He was diagnosed with leukemia (Acute Myeloid Leukemia) that very day. He spent most of the summer in the hospital with treatments. I was able to stay with him for part of the time, but the hospital policy sometimes did not allow visitors. After several rounds of chemotherapy, we were told that he needed a bone marrow transplant. Through a worldwide registry of volunteer donors (Be The Match), they found a great match! Donor cells were collected from a 28 year-old man from Germany and flown to the U.S. In November 2020, he received this life-saving transplant! It has been a long journey with a lot of side effects, but he is getting stronger every day. He still has to go to the hospital every week for checkups.
I have spent my days with nursing duties, driving duties, and cooking duties. I have missed all of my friends at Highlands! Every month, I think about the lessons I would have been doing and the books I would have been reading. Teaching is not a job that is easily forgotten! The pandemic has made life different for everyone. Since Mr. Koski has a fragile immune system, we have been staying close to home and keeping our distance from people. We still see our family a little, and my grandkids are now 3 and 5 years old. I hope that I can come to Highlands for a visit soon.
I miss all of you and I thank you for a wonderfully rewarding teaching career. I will leave the blog functional, so you may continue to enjoy the pictures of our activities. Please feel free to email me anytime at [email protected]
Much love,
Mrs. Koski