I just posted this on someone’s blog and it struck me that this is a universal post. Some background… the other blogger was talking about a teacher that she had in high school. My comment on her blog:
I had a teacher for a few years in middle school (small private school, he taught me two subjects + more for three years) who had a profound impact on my life. My longest friend (we’re too old to call each other oldest friends anymore!) and I often talked about him. She said she wanted to invite him to her wedding. That was before she even had a boyfriend.
When I was 25 I tracked him down. It was so weird to talk to him on the phone. I had NEVER done that before. It was incredibly important to me that he knew what a wonderful teacher he was, that he knew that he taught me to learn for the sake of learning. That he made a positive impact on my life and that I appreciated that, and I wanted him to know.
Do you know what he said?
He said, “I get one of these calls about once a year.”
Made me laugh. A bunch of orthodox Jewish girls had become Orthodox (except for me) Jewish women and tracked down this Catholic English teacher. How wonderful is that?
He told me two sad things that day. One was that he had lost a son. The other was that he no longer taught. He is still young, maybe in his early 50’s. Hadn’t taught in many many years. Very very sad.
So, if you’ve got someone in your life like this, let them know. It’s important.
That is a great story and definitely inspires me to track down my old teacher. He had a tremendous impact on my life. 🙂