Thursday, July 13, 2006

You Changed My Life

So..sat in a VERY long boring 6 hour meeting to day about homelessness in Gratiot County..YES there is homeless people..the Definition is incorrect..
However..AFTER the meeting...
I called gf, and we went to the Ithaca Pub
Big Guy Waits on us, lip ring..mowhawk under his cap. I didn't really pay much attention to him.
We saw our good friend BUD. A couple times.
I get up to pee. (why so many of my posts mention PEE I don't know)
On the way back..the big guy was shooting pool with another worker..He says..HEY DONNA
(WHOA)Stops me in my tracks (Well..because that's my NAME).
You still working at Davenport??
Now, I have not taught at the University in over 5 years. I THINK the last time I taught I was preggos with Joy because I remember seeing one of my students AFTER I had JOy...he had seen me when I was like 7 months preggos and big ass a trailer, and I introduced him (she was about a week old).
SO
Back the The PUB guy
I say,,No..you have to have a MAster's, (and I'm only good enough to get REJECTED for a Master's Program)...
He says..
YOU CHANGED MY LIFE.
yep
Just like that.
He said, You were the BEST teacher I ever had, you kept me interested, and wanting to learn.
(He also said Sally a friend of my SIL's was the WORST-She taught english and he said She was MISRABLE and Mean).

But Hey..I want this post to be about ME ME ME!
So..
I stand there looking at the guy..realizing I didn't even know his name. We talked about the class (Interpersonal Communication)aka speech...and he said..the class made him more aware of himself, gave him the ability to talk to people better, and have a lot more confidence.
He said..Thanks.

I stood there, trying to take it all in. Of course..I KNEW he was Brilliant!!
But really...
I changed a guy's life (in a POSTIVE WAY!! LOL)..and didn't even know it.

I wonder how many times that has happened that I don't know about. HOw many people in MY life, have helped me change MINE that dont' know it? (I try to not make it many as I am a Firm believer in thank yous and recognitions.

The other day..riding the Dial a ride buss with the summer kids to movies, I start talking to the driver. Didn't recognize him..but he was in my High School Graduating class.
I said..Do you know me? He said Yes....I remember. I said..Was I mean to you? He said..um..YAH...Sort of kidding..but not really. I apoligized..said..I was so unhappy in High School, and so MEAN...I was So MAD I was sort of a bully. ANyway..I got to apologize. That was sort of in the same vein as the guy in The PUB.

so..THe guy in the Pub..Thanked me again as we were leaving.

No buddy...Thank YOU.

1 comment:

Vanessa said...

I don't think we can always know...we frequently can't even figure out what is happening to us most of the time, let alone be able to assign something as a turning point. But after a long time, we can look back and realize that certain people did in fact change our lives...and sometimes they really are odd, and you wouldn't think that they could have that much power over you, but they do....like the boy I "dated" when I was 15 after my reputation at my own school was shot to hades thanks to a horny 11th grader who bragged things about me that were most assuredly not true...this other guy lived 10 hours away, and we only saw each other twice after meeting at camp, but thanks to him, I wrote a lot and didn't date anybody for a whole school year, and I got on the honor society because I didn't have anybody else messing with my head....he changed my life. I didn't know I was smart before then. Who knows what would have happened to me if I had gone on thinking I was dumb????