Gloria is going to England! Yes! Fellow blogger/writer/poet Willow Willers at willowdot21 invited Gloria to come and visit her. Willow has always loved my posts about Gloria. Well, she just loves Gloria, and when you love someone, you need to be together.
This week at school we had a huge school-wide Bon Voyage party for Gloria. Everyone knows and loves Gloria, so saying goodbye was important. Gloria gave everyone a lei!
Gloria with her teachers
The whole school gathered in our Community Room. Gloria was scared. She has never traveled across the ocean. Thank goodness her good friends Rosie and Pierre were there.
Rosie is on the right, and Pierre is on the left.
Gloria couldn’t speak to all the children, but as soon as she saw Rosie they had a grand time and she relaxed. Then she looked at everyone and talked. Oh, how she talked! She showed them the big map on the screen, how she would fly from Boston to England.
Pierre has flown before. He’s from France. Gloria asked him to tell everyone what Bon Voyage means, because it’s French. Bon means good, and voyage means trip.
Gloria asked Pierre what he did so he wouldn’t be scared flying across the ocean in a plane. Pierre said, “I took my favorite book to read.” Gloria’s eyes brightened, because her favorite book that she hears every day at school is Goodnight Moon. She will definitely take the book on the plane.
But, the questions kept coming.
“Jennie, Gloria can’t read. Who will read to her on the plane?
“Weston, there are so many people on the plane. I bet someone can read to Gloria. Everyone knows the book.”
“Jennie, will she fly alone?”
“Yes. I’m not worried. Everyone will take good care of Gloria.”
“Jennie, when will she come back?”
“I don’t know. I think it depends on what she does in England. I’ll let everyone know when she plans to come back.”
Here’s the thing; children aren’t really worried, they’re just not quite ready to let her go. Does that make sense? Are they excited for her trip? Yes! Big Time! They just care.
Gloria might get to visit school children in their classroom, so she wanted to work on singing her ABC’s, and asked everyone to help. She started with “ABCDEF Giraffe.” Everyone laughed, and Rosie told Gloria she had to say G, not giraffe. Okay. Gloria tried again, and the whole school helped. “ABCDEFGHIJKLMNO Penguin. More laughter, and also more help from children. Finally she held hands with Rosie and Pierre and made it through the whole alphabet.
It’s moments like these that help children connect with Gloria. They know she makes mistakes and needs help. They know she is just like them. No wonder children love her.
Thank you Willow. Gloria is excited to visit you. ❤️
Jennie
A Teacher's Reflections 
How exciting for Gloria and the children. They will be thrilled to hear about her trip when she returns. I love how you made it such a wonderful experience to say goodbye and talk about her trip. I’ll bet many of your little ones have never been on a plane before.
Gloria will be fine and so welcome when she arrives 😊
I know she will, Willow. 🥰. You’re the best. 💕
Thank you 💜💜
Yes on all counts, Carla. It was very exciting. I think you’re right that many of the children have never been on a plane. Many thanks for your lovely comment!
I’m so pleased that Willow is able to host Gloria’s trip to my country, especially as I was previously unable to do that. I am looking forward to reading about her adventures here!
Best wishes, Pete.
I hope she enjoys the trip Pete 💜💜
Thanks so much, Pete! It’s very exciting. Best to you, my friend.
Make sure Gloria has wellington boots, an umbrella and a mackintosh raincoat. 🌧️☔️🇬🇧🥴
yes indeed she’ll need all of that and I have been looking into that too!! 😉😉
I’ve heard it has been nonstop rain. Thanks, FR.
It’s getting a bit better, fingers crossed for Gloria’s visit!
How exciting for Gloria and she will have a fabulous time here in England! It’s touching how the children care about her so much and I too was worrying about her flying by herself. Of course, she’ll have lots of companions and one can’t go wrong with a favourite book. I look forward to reading about her adventures with Willow – she will need her own blog! 😀❤️
hi Annika I am sure Gloria will have a great flight! We’ll look look after her and hopefully she will have lots of fun and learn new things.
She is also bringing her journal with her too so that will be like her blog! 💜
Awww … a journal officially makes her a proper explorer / traveller! 😀
Yes indeed it does.
Thanks so much, Annika. Yes, she will have a fabulous time. Of course the children envision her being a true passenger on the plane, which helps them to understand her journey. I’m so glad Pierre recommended bringing a favorite book!
How exciting this all is Jennie. I was delighted to see the photos and hear all about Gloria’s Glorious send off.
We are all looking forward to seeing her very soon.
Oh! We will be having one of our Guide Dog foster gals staying too. So Gloria will have fun with her too. Her name is Olivia.
Looking forward to Gloria’s arrival 💜💜💜
I’m so happy you enjoyed the photos and hearing about the party! How exciting that she’ll get to meet Olivia! We are huge black lab lovers, and my fellow teacher has a black lab that Gloria loves. Gloria is now at the ‘spa’ (dry cleaners) getting beautified. I pick her up on Tuesday and ship her on Wednesday. 😀
How splendid did Willow. And how brave of e everyone involved. I hope the visit is a spectacular success.
Love this 💕
I’m so glad, Alethea. Many thanks!
💜💜💜
oh, how wonderful !!!
How exciting for Gloria. Safe travels.