Joy!
The topic of bats came up in fiction workshop yesterday, which led to a comment about Dixon Jr. High (my alma mater), and me saying, "I went to Dixon Jr. High."
and James, "Did you know Mr.Westwood?
and me, "Oh my Gosh. Yes!"
and James, "He's my dad."
And I was thinking OH MY GOSH, I am in the midst of Mr. Westwood's progeny, in fact he is my friend, and has been for many months and James is of course brilliant and happy just like Mr. Westwood was brilliant and happy. It was a joyful moment. We talked and talked after class...about Mr. Westwood's logic problems (which I could NEVER get), the way he took care of underdogs, his camaraderie with Mr. Day and Mr. Parson's. We talked about what it was like to have Mr. Westwood as a Dad, and James told me that it was just wonderful. Of course.
So as these things go, I wrote an email to James later that night saying that Charles and I had spent the night talking about Dixon Jr. High, and Mr. Westwood, and good old times, and that this information was a gift to us. James forwarded the email to Mr. Westwood, and then, (prepare yourself) in my in box this morning was an email from the man himself, Mr. Westwood!
I had told James that he wouldn't remember me (and quite honestly hoped he wouldn't because I was just awful in Jr. High) but apparently he did. But he really remembered Charles.
Ahhhhhh, Charles. Every teacher he has ever had remembers him, since nursery school. They remember him the way you remember your smart, potential-filled students. Charles skipped his awkward years, the rest of us were just trying to avoid skid marks, while Charles was smart and funny.
Mr. Westwood said he has often thought of Charles, and wondered what became of him.
So they will be emailing. It is all so nice. And it makes me super excited to be a teacher.
If for some reason you read my blog and had Mr. Westwood, drop a line. We'll take a blog walk down memory lane.
