Exactly one month ago today – December 1, 2017 – I saw someone I never thought I’d see again in a million years.

Let me set the scene.  It was a Friday, my day off.  I was running errands with my mother, and we ended up in the Hallmark store because she had to buy some birthday cards or something.

All of a sudden, someone appeared in front of me: “Hey kid!”

And I was like “Oh my God!”

Because of course, I recognized her immediately.  It was my high school journalism teacher, Amber Hatfield.  Lots of feelings came flooding back.  She’d been friends with my other teacher, so she was also someone I could turn to and open up to if I was feeling down.

I also got a renewed sense that I do, in fact, want to be a journalist.  Working on stories for the school newspaper was a lot of fun, even if I didn’t always make deadline.  Of course, I know that in the real world, I could be fired if I don’t hit a deadline.  However, I think it will be somewhat easier to do because I won’t have to worry about any other work; my stories will be the only thing I have to work on.

Another thing I realized was that I hadn’t realized how much I missed Hatfield until I saw her that day.  It turns out that she now manages the store next to Hallmark.  I’m glad I saw her.  Hopefully I get to see her again sometime.