It’s what I intend to do on my way to retirement this May.

Because I want to remember what it was like to be an Amarillo College English teacher.

Because I want my grandkids’ grandkids to know that sometimes life’s best gifts arrive unexpected and unsought.

That was I—23 years ago—a lost job, a lost career. I can write. Why not teach it?

Didn’t expect happiness; nor fulfillment. Just needed a job. Something to put bread on the table.

Then, as a teacher, I walked into my first writing class. Magical. I belonged there. Had found my way home.

A few years later, I came to Amarillo College. And here I learned that I was put on earth not only to fix comma splices and dangling modifiers.

I was here to give students what I needed when my life came to an abrupt end at midlife.

I was here to bring hope, and in trying my best to do this for them, I found a happiness and fulfillment I never thought possible.

What a ride!