I retired from teaching in 1997. I taught at the same school from 1969-1997. I didn't plan to stay in the same school that long. As it turned out it was an excellent school and the community was very supportive.
Over that time I had about 4000 students. About 20% of them stayed in the same district and sent their kids to me. It was a treat to teach children of your former students. So I always wonder where my former students have gone and what has happened to them. I certainly wouldn't recognize very many of them on the street and the same would be true for them in recognizing me.
In this morning's paper I happened to see an advertising feature for a business called Classic Dream Machines. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a familiar name so I looked and found another. So there were Alden and Anders working in this specialized auto shop. This shop would do as little as paint a stripe on your car or completely redo your car to make it some far out set of wheels.
Now I had Alden and Anders in Middle School and I didn't each them very much. I had them for language arts and they let me know very definitely that they had very little time for literature,grammar, spelling or writing. They did as little as they possibly could and still get by. Every day Alden would whine, "Why do we have to do this stuff?" They were both smart enough that they could get by with little effort.
What these two boys spent all their time on was drawing cars. They could both produce beautiful complicated drawings of specially designed cars as far as painting and shape was concerned. They also had a decent understanding of the power train of the cars in their imagination. They were always drawing cars and sharing with each other. They talked to me about the cars all the time. So there were times that I maybe didn't appreciate their cars as much as they thought I should. If I'd been smart enough to find material on cars they would have read and written all kinds of things about cars. Sadly by the time I figured that out I was retired.
So this morning when I saw the ad I thought how awesome that these two guys are able to make a living from their dreams as kids. They are both able to pursue their passion for cars to make a living. It doesn't get any better than that!
That's really a wonderful story. I know that some people have a passion in their life that never lets them go. but most never get to realize it. They did! What a great outcome for them... a success story if ever there was one. :-)
ReplyDeleteDJan these two probably would have had a hard time to find success in other areas. They were both likable characters.
ReplyDeleteSo true but I'll bet it could get just a tad better than that. Like.. if.. let's say their Middle School teacher contacted them out of the blue and expressed pretty much what he wrote right here in his blog. I'll bet they'd be thrilled. :)
ReplyDeleteHilary, they'd be thrilled . So would I. Unfortunately people sometimes feel that they were not that good or successful in middle school and they make apologies. These apologies are not necessary as at the time they were doing normal things.
ReplyDeleteIts wonderful that they got to live out their dreams. Thanks for sharing this story!
ReplyDeleteIt is strange - and rather pleasing - how early interest can define our later life. I remember sitting in classes in school drawing pictures of cameras. I probably would have drawn pictures of computers - if computers had existed.
ReplyDeleteAlan, there were also some of who couldn't draw ...namely me. I loved to read so I was always occupied.
ReplyDeleteHi Ruby. First time commenters get an asterisk on my wall!
ReplyDeleteI think some of us have reasonable dreams and some dreams re just completely unattainable. Then some of us are bumblers! I bumbled into teaching. I had not thought about it until a few months before I entered college.
Just living the dream...It's nice when it works properly...
ReplyDeleteJudy, the dream is more of a challenge when it's artistic. Some artistic people try harder.
ReplyDeleteGood story! Doing what you love isn't work..interesting to hear how they turned out! :)
ReplyDeleteFar Side , it's always interesting to hear how they are doing especially a couple of guys like these who were off in their own little world.
ReplyDeleteSince I still live in the same district I get to serve on boards with former students. Quite the thing to have a former student as chairman of a board you serve on.