 I know I am guilty of "ecstatic gratitude" at times, and today is one of those times. Now 27, this guy, whom I met when he was 12 and who had just arrived in the United States after having been separated from his mom since he was 6 years old, contacted me yesterday to get together. When he came to the U.S., he was in classes all taught in English, and he knew none, so he was often sent to the media center (where I spent the last 6 years of my middle school teaching career) to "hang out." He brought a smile and a bit of mischief whenever he walked through the door. He remembers that the first book I read him in English was David Goes to School by David Shannon!!! When he graduated from eighth grade, I made him an award that said "Best Smile in the Whole Wide World." Obviously the smile hasn't gone away. We've seen each other off and on over the years; I've tried to help him get into college. He is an AMAZING guy, AMAZING and VERY SPECIAL, (so much wisdom for so few years on the planet) and several times tears just streamed from my eyes today while he talked. He's worked his way from McDonald's worker to manager to a warehouse job and now to the engineering department of a company. He's managed to go to school at COD on his lunch hour, start his own DJ business, get his own place, buy a car for transporting his equipment, and he has a plan for becoming the "boss" of this DJ business down the road with a specific timeline in mind, but he won't just be hiring other DJs--but teaching them how to do a good job. Since I saw him a year ago, he's been working on his English at my urging so he can communicate better in his current and future roles. He uses vocabularly .com when he looks up a word he doesn't know and encounters a word that's part of the definition that is unfamiliar; he practices public speaking/English by recording himself on his phone and listening to it back. He's studying adjectives right now so he can be more specific in his writing course, writing five sentences using the adjective to reinforce its meaning and its usage. He has a book and a bookstand at his work desk so he can read when he has extra time; he plans to read at least five books this year not in his comfort zone. He prefers to hang around "older" adults at times because they are wise and have things to teach him. He has role models, and he credits his grandfather and uncle in Mexico for planting the seed about how important education is. He is a teacher's dream! "You can always make more of yourself." I don't know another person who has made better use of his time and been more motivated to succeed than Carlos. He has hit some bumps in the road, but he is single-minded. I could not be more proud to have been his teacher. He is why I love teaching. Forgive my effusiveness. I can't help myself. Lucky lucky me. I'm pretty sure that when he has thanked me over and over again these past 15 years that it is I who should be thanking him.
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