Mentor

I saw this book, Mentor by Tom Grimes, on the Discover Great New Writers list at Barnes & Noble and admit I picked it up because of its cover. (I'm so easy). In his book, Grimes tells the story of the life of a writer and his relationship with his teacher. While reading this book, I felt like Grimes was writing out my thoughts when he describes his aspirations as a writer, the self-doubt, and the disappointments. But more than that, his relationship with his professor, his mentor, really touched me. It made me think of the people who have unknowingly influenced and guided me, mainly my former English professor. I had lost touch with her a few years back, but after reading this book I decided to email her. After I hit send I continued to refresh my inbox to see if she'd emailed back, nervous that she wouldn't, or worse, wouldn't remember me.

A few hours later I received a reply and it made my day. I will be forever grateful to her for stepping into my life when I had very little guidance and encouraging me to pursue writing. We're planning on meeting for lunch soon and I'm so excited to pick her brain and ask for her opinion on my latest work. (Hopefully there would be fewer red marks and question marks than when she graded my papers years ago).

Isn't it amazing how one little encounter with someone can change your life or make such a difference? Who knows, maybe you've affected someone and one day you'll receive an email from someone who's always been grateful to you all these years.