Those Who Can't Do...

... Teach.

I once said this to a math teacher when I was a high school student.  I hope he knows that I am now a teacher and savoring the irony.  I didn't mean it maliciously, but I did say it.  I've been thinking about that moment a lot recently.

Just the other day I said to a colleague only partly in jest, "I used to have such a high aspirations for myself - now look at me!"  He looked at me a bit incredulously and said "What could be more important than the work you do now?"  I guess part of me agrees but another part of me can't help but compare where I am now to where I thought I would be so long ago (perhaps a writer, a scientist, or, better yet, both!).

Validation comes in many forms but one of the best is the years-later thank you.  I've been teaching for 12 years now which means that my former students are doing all kinds of things.  Some are research scientists, some are switching careers or going back to school, some have even become (*gulp*) physics teachers.  One of the many perks of this great job is when you get an email, letter, or shout out of some kind from a former student who is now an adult and feels that I had some positive influence way back when.  (I'd like to give a special shout-out to DK who recently wrote a really great story/letter to me that got me thinking about this stuff.)  Clearly these people are delusional, but I take it all at face value and, puffing out my chest, turn back into the (classroom) fray to push back the tides of darkness.

Funny how life is full of twists and turns.  I never even considered teaching as a career until I was in my 30's.  Turns out to be the job I've enjoyed the most and, just maybe, the most important one I could have aspired to...

Someday when I grow up, maybe I'll send a shout out back to my former teachers, I bet they'd like that!