10 years later

While perusing the crowded aisles of a busy Trader Joe's, I ran in one of my teachers from high school. I was shocked that he remembered me. More so I was shocked that 10 years later he remembered a paper I wrote. Wow.

So for about 10 minutes we chatted (by the Oktoberfest beer) about his decision to retire, the bureaucratic bull $h!t that led up to it and that state of local public education.

His classes were amazing. He's one of the teachers that, looking back, I truly respect.

And he remembered me. He came out with my first and last name before I finished asking "Are you Mr. Richier?" Amazing. I didn't expect him to remember me, much less my paper.

He asked me who I hung out with in high school, and we batted around names for a few minutes. Then, he really surprised me. "I remember that you were..." I was thinking he'd say overachiever, nerdy or a loner, but instead he said "slightly antagonistic to the process," meaning that I resented high school and the apathetic teachers and going through the motions when clearly very few cared about the value of my education.

It's true. High school was awful. My AP English teacher turned me off to reading and writing (I got a high five for that) and when I went to college, I felt gipped by my high school education. Students from other public schools actually got an education and I felt woefully unprepared, but I persevered, got into the Honors Program and thrived.

All in all, an eventful trip to Trader Joe's (not counting the pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin cream cheese and Halloween cookies I'm looking forward to for later :)