Random Acts of Kindness

This weekend has been awesome. Yay.

At Wal-mart today, I ran into my beloved grade 4 teacher, whom I haven't seen since I was 14 or so. She asked me what I was doing these days, and I explained to her that I was in St. John's, had tried music school and didn't like it, and I'm currently planning on majoring in behavioural neuroscience through the psychology faculty and, maybe, applying to med school. My little, hyperactive 4'8"-or-so teacher nodded intently and said, "So right now you're going the science route." She went on to talk about her son-in-law, who's a surgeon, and passed on his advice. "Once you're in," she said, "it takes brains and the guts to keep on pushing through. " She grabbed my arm and finished, "And you've got it." She gave me a hug and a kiss and, apparently teary-eyed, scurried off to prepare for her trip to Ireland in two days.

I can't even describe how much this burst of faith in me means. She knows neither that I managed to pull off a 74% in calculus physics without the pre-reqs, nor that I struggled through chemistry, failed the only two tests I've ever failed in my entire life, and felt like a complete idiot the entire time. She only knows that she saw something in me when I was nine years old and still believes in me enough to tell me so.

And if there's anyone in my past I can trust, it's Mrs. Brown.

One hundred years from now,

it will not matter what kind of house I lived in

or how much money I had.

But the world may be a better place

because I was important

in the life of a child.