One of the joys of teaching is receiving emails from former students. I found one in my inbox this morning, a happy note from Arizona reporting that life is good. She included a poem that I will print out and read carefully while sitting beside the fire tonight.

Last year, I received a letter from a student I taught in Iowa. He is a copywriter now. As a teacher, you never know if students are truly listening, and it was unsettling and thrilling to realize someone had taken my career advice so very seriously.

Got to watch what I say, I guess.

I always write back, except when I forget to or don’t hit the send button, which is probably far too often.

Maybe I should write a letter to one of my former teachers. Maybe you should, too.