Never Stop Learning

Best Presents November 19, 2022 I am feeling most grateful this morning. Today is son Jeff’s 51st birthday and that makes me happy because I love him and he loves me. But this past week has also produced other special things that mean more to me than receiving traditional presents, tangible gifts you can wrap your hands around like a fishing rod. They, too, are always appreciated. But what happened this week tops them in value to me. First, Sharon asked me if I knew anyone named “Snickers” because she had just received an email from him. Yes, I knew exactly whom she was talking about. Steve “Snickers” Howard was a student of mine who did a 5-day hike on the Appalachian Trail in Virginia with me, and I won’t forget him, the origin of his nickname, and the charging bear we experienced together. Steve’s trail name was Snickers because he specialized in enhancing hot chocolate by breaking up, depositing, and eating a Snickers bar in each cup of hot chocolate. I tried one of his concoctions on the trail and it redefined the word “rich.” Another memory of Steve is what happened to his weight when he hiked the whole AT a couple of years before our hike. He gained 15 pounds hiking that trail! Never had I heard of any man gaining weight hiking the trail. Everybody I know lost weight. One I hiked with lost 125 pounds. But not Steve. He ate anything and everything in abundance, especially Snickers bars, and still remained trim. Steve sent that email to Sharon because in his search to find me, this was the only lead he had. Anyway, I took the information in his email and contacted Steve, had a great time catching up on those missing 23 years, and expressed thanks that he sought me out. Then both of us made a commitment to stay in touch. I was happy to hear of his marriage, family, and career. Actually what got the reconnect going was that Steve was reading our bear story from my Two 8’s book to his children and they liked it. Steve told me he has worked in IT for Chick-fil-A for 20 years and then he invited Sharon and me to visit him at corporate headquarters, which we will do. The second blessing, a total surprise as well, was what Sharon told me about and showed me when she returned from Bunco last Wednesday. At that gathering, the hostess, Vicki Brown, said she had something she wanted to read to the group. It was an interview in Bulldawg Illustrated, the 2022 Homecoming game issue, of a Georgia Bulldawg fan, Dan Lovein, in which he was asked to name his most admired professor at UGA. Dan graduated in 1994 and is an attorney in Brunswick, Georgia. And he named me and said some nice things about me. Dan’s words meant a lot to me. My goal as a teacher was to try to help people find their way through life and I think in many ways I did help quite a few of them, but it is hard to really know because feedback is very limited. But a thoughtful guy named Dan did remember me and got value from my mentoring, and that is so satisfying and positively reinforcing. It fills me with gratitude. I also can’t thank Vicki enough for what she did. First I would never have seen the magazine or the Dan Lovein interview if Vicki had not seen it. Sharon said she had been saving it for her until Bunco met. Secondly, while she could have just given it to Sharon, she read it to others honoring both Sharon and me. I really appreciate that because I know most of us really don’t know what others do or contribute and when they do listen to someone like Vicki reading Dan’s compliments about me, the result carries so much more value. It was so very, very thoughtful of Vicki to do that for us. What I learned from both of these special presents in terms of teaching lessons is that we should never underestimate the importance and blessings of kindness and grateful words, two things that are more important in life than most anything else you can buy or receive. I believe most of us, maybe all of us, need to hear appreciative words to give our lives positive reinforcement, confirming that yes, we were on the right track in our work and lives, and that those efforts did make a difference. These two acts of kindness and thoughtfulness lifted my spirits in special ways. Sharon was as excited and happy about Vicki and Dan as I was. And I have contacted both Dan and Vicki to thank them, and those follow-up calls also produced added blessings. So remember those people who made a difference in your life and drop them a note expressing your thanks. Ask them how they are doing. Reconnect. And you, too, will be richly rewarded. There is no big cost to anyone who shares kind words. But the benefits are priceless.