We Will Always Have Back Then 

Yesterday, I read on Face Book that one of my former students had passed away.  She was not only in my first class of students - she was also in my student teaching class in 1988.  We had exchanged a few notes over the years - mutually regretted that we hadn't seen each other - and talk about getting together (at least at the annual Christmas Reading).  It never happened and as is so often the case - I am awash with regret at the missed opportunities.   I remember her - distinctly and clearly - perhaps, with the clarity that mothers remember their first born children.  Each day and second of that first class is with me - it guided me - it spoke to me with each lesson - with each student interaction.

We live on - I believe - in the way that we have affected and changed others.  This site will, some day, I hope, attest to that.  We grow through those changes - I know I did and I hope that I continue to.  In the song by Rebecca Sugar, "Time Adventure" - she comfortingly writes that our memories are always present in the now -

"Time is an illusion that helps things make sense
So we are always living in the present tense
It seems unforgiving when a good thing ends
But you and I will always be back then
You and I will always be back then"

To my former student: This site is dedicated to you and to everyone who helped build it.  Through your brilliance, your hard work, and most of all your kindness.  We will always be back then. (2/28/24)