If you can read this...

...thank a teacher. And while you're at it, I'd like to thank the teachers who taught me to write. There were many of them. But one sticks in my mind.  

Mr. Bird was my English teacher my senior year of high school.  We loved him.  In fact, there were several of us who occasionally went out to breakfast with him. Before school.  Yup, teenagers who got out of bed early to go hang out with a teacher.  He was that cool.

Not only was Mr. Bird cool, he also taught me something that helped launch me into a successful college career:  How to Organize My Thinking on Paper. And when I say successful, I'm thinking of a research paper I wrote for the eloquent and brilliant Dr. Clark.  When he returned it to me, I could hardly believe my eyes.  In his comment he stated (and I quote), "Your writing sparkles with lucidity." Yes, he did!  And when Professor Dean was about to hand back a set of essays, he said, "I want to read a paper to you in which the student took the question seriously and gave well thought-out answers and evidence." As he began to read, I realized that it was my own.  Yes, it was!  Thank you, Mr. Bird. And Dr. Clark and Professor Dean.

After college, I went on to a teaching career of my own.  Since I taught second grade, I taught all subjects.  My favorite?  Writing.  At a workshop about writing instruction, a presenter said something that really resonated with me:  "If your students can't think of anything to write, you haven't romanced them enough." Thank you, Mr. Bird for romancing us--for capturing our imaginations, and giving us opportunities to realize when we wrote we learned, and learned about ourselves.

I still love to write. It's the best way I know of to clarify my own thinking. I am very thankful to have blogging as a forum for my writing. I am humbled by the fact that people read it and are actually kind enough to provide feedback. I can only hope that every once in awhile it sparkles with lucidity.