A Recent Conversation

On Saturday I had a Norwex table at the grand opening of an adorable little store in Farmington, MN.  One of the other vendors came up to me and said I looked familiar.  Here is that conversation:

Jenny: Excuse me.  You look really familiar to me.
Me:  I do?
Jenny: Yes.  Were you ever a teacher?
Me: Yes.
Jenny: In Lakeville?
Me: Yes.
Jenny: At Kenwood?
Me: Yes!  That was a long time ago!  I can't place you because you're all grown up.
Jenny:  I was Jenny H----.  Ms. Ryman!  You taught English.
Me: I must have had you early on if I was still Ms. Ryman.
Jenny: Yup.  I think the year I had you was your first year teaching.
Me:  Ok, I'm no math teacher, but I taught for six years and I've been out of teaching for seven.  If my addition is correct, you were in my class thirteen years ago.

That made me feel old.  She's 27 now.  Married, hoping to have a family in the near future.  As we talked, I started to remember her from my 8th grade class all those years ago.  But Jenny and I went on to talk about where she went to college, having kids and the fact that we both had a crush on Mr. Minske, the young social studies teacher down the hall from me.  She said she remembered Independent Reading, where students would bring in a book and spend the hour laying under tables and in the isles between desks reading while I graded their daily journals.

It was fun to catch up with her.  As a teacher, I loved seeing that one of my students had grown into a smart, well-spoken, confident adult.  She told me she now loves to read.  I told her I'm going to take some credit for that.