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he puts the 'o' in omg
11/15/2008 = 06:22 AM

So, last week I got one of the single most amazing emails of my life since the one I got from Juma saying, "Hi. Um, I'm your first cousin."

Dear Sondra,

I've been reading all about you on the internet. I didn't realize you had become an author until today. I would've contacted you sooner had I known.

I retired Sept. 2007. I've been teaching an adult ed writing course at Amity High School for two months. One of my students read the article about my family and quoted your comment about me (VERY complimentary, I'm happy to say), but she didn't tell me who wrote the comment. I went exploring today and found out it was you! Thanks for signing your name.

I am so happy for you! You may not believe this, but ever since you graduated WHHS, I was reading your childhood memory paper "Young Crush, First Crush" to all my Advanced Composition classes from 1989 till 2006 as a past good example of how to tackle that type of paper. I STILL have it!!!!

I'd love to hear from you. You wanna hear my melifluous voice again? Try [redacted] most any time during the day. Or e-mail me at [redacted].

MR. O

Yes. THAT Mr. O.

I'm still working on my reply email to him. It will require several rewrites, and it's also looking like it needs to be tightened a bit.

(You can take the girl out of high school English comp, but you can't take high school English comp out of the girl — and if anyone's going to notice when I try to get away with anything, writing-wise, it's Mr. O).

They always say that you're lucky if you get one teacher in your lifetime who makes this much of a difference in your life. I've had more than one (total, I think, three), but Mr. O was the one to whose lessons I still refer just about every day of my life.

I associate with so many schoolteachers it's really a wonder that I'm not a teacher myself, but I must say that I vastly prefer to not have to draw up study plans or worry about babysitting and/or educating a roomful of anyone ... especially not anyone who probably doesn't want to be in school today.

I salute all of you teachers, past, present, and future. And I hope that you are lucky enough to have, in your life, at least one student that you know for sure gives a damn about what you're teaching them.

Everyone else out there, if you had a teacher you loved, let them know, if you still can. In a world where a lot of people are out to suck your soul, it's probably good to show appreciation to the ones who show you how to deal with the soul-suckers:

Without speaking directly about my job, coworkers, or our customer base, I would like to point out that my current day-job-related success is due solely to my mad vocabulary skills and my ability (after many years of practice since Mr. O drilled it into me) to find a million and a half words to convey a single meaning, such as, "It's your fault but I'll take the heat anyway, and I'll never let you know that I know you're to blame, either."

Tags: education

drinking: ice water
listening to: nothing
just realized: juma's also a schoolteacher, so the two best emails of my life have both been from teachers.