I just heard from a former

9/4/09 -- I just heard from a former student who was in my 4-5th grade class in Lincoln City, Oregon way back in the early 1980s. Seems she was recently at her 20th high school reunion and ran into other students from that same class. Later, she wrote me about the experience:

"Most of us hadn't been in contact for 20 years. Many of the kids from our 4th and 5th grade class asked about you. They recalled warmly all of our experiences in the classroom, and particularly our outdoor/nature adventures. Those were very memorable years, where many of us met for the first time perhaps, for our journey through the rest of our school years together. I just wanted to let you know that you really impacted our lives in a great way!"

I loved that class, and am so glad to hear that in the long run it appears I didn't do any lasting damage to them as their somewhat wacky teacher. What I got from them has been twenty fold -- a wonderful teaching experience, and tons of ideas for my writing. In fact, that class was the inspiration for my very first book, the middle grade novel, I'M GOING TO BE FAMOUS. Thanks, y'all!