To My Former Students
I think of you all often. At least once a day, one or more of you come to mind. Each thought is full of love and gratitude and the hope that you are well and happy. I so enjoy being able to follow you on social media as you develop your careers, meet the person of your dreams, marry, have children, and continue to grow as a person. I only wish I could keep up with you all regularly.
A few years ago, I was fortunate to catch up with a former student while he was hiking through Connecticut and I was caring for my mother. He said it well, “our class was like family.” It’s so incredibly true; we may have been dysfunctional at times, but each one of you became one of my “kids”. As you crossed through the threshold of my room you entered my heart. You still reside there and will for as long as I live.
A random song, a musician, a place, books, someone who looks like you, a specific time of day, an artist, movies, television shows, etc constantly create fleeting memories and thoughts. Silly moments are probably my favorite closely followed by your “ah ha moments” when the light bulb came on and stayed lit. Here are some of my most frequent reminiscences in no particular order.
Nirvana Adele 80s music Silver Bells 12:34 p.m. Velveeta Cheese Hangman Transformers
Hot Dogs Hemingway Code Hero Nemo Random Sales Calls Stephen King. Pink Floyd
Jurassic Park Spotify Pens with No Ink Winnie the Pooh Old Man and the Sea Dinosaurs
Sneezes Heart of Darkness The Scarlet Letter 1984 (so many of you come to mind)
Reacher Moose Butterflies Chik fil a Oprah Peanut Butter Cookies Lee Child
Rainbows Red Beans & Rice Lawrence, Mass Cheese Grits Beignets Nora Roberts
Romeo & Juliet Dinosaurs Supernatural NCIS Drum Lines Opus Concerts
Goyte The Appalachian Trail Yearbooks Rubber Band Guns Sugar Jars
The Short Happy Life of Francis Maycomber Tropical Smoothie Espresso
Horses and neck bruises (you know who you are)
The Genius App (you know who you are - I use it all the time)
Foetus (I am still finding them at home!)
Please feel free to comment and identify yourself to some of these or remind me of what should be added.