{trust}
I had to the most wonderful day on Cape Cod. Not because of the white sand beach and beautiful blue water (which was very nice and mesmerizing) but for a much better reason, the reunion of friends.
I have had many teachers in my life, some have taught me lessons of love, others lessons of faith, and still others lessons of loss. Life is a teacher until itself in so many ways but the people Life has sent to enlighten my path have been the most cherished.
One of those special and dearest people is Debbie Cottrell. She taught me women’s history in a way that nobody ever attempted before I entered college. I actually didn’t know what the women had been doing all the time that men were fighting battles and laying out tax law and claiming lands and building boats and railroads and all the other things that had been written in my history textbooks since grade school. But Debbie knew, and she taught me in the most inspiring way. It was her influence that led me down the path to claiming a women’s studies major at Smith College.
But that’s not why she was my favorite professor. It was the birthday cards she sent every year on my birthday long past my college days. It was the emails and Christmas cards and check-ins on me after my divorce years. And today, it was meeting up on the most beautiful strand of sand on the eastern seaboard … just to catch up because she was in town.
It is the staying-in-touch that has touched me most and taught me the mostest (if that is a word!). It is the support of a lifetime not just the support of a semester that has stood out as exemplary. She is so exemplary, in fact, she was just named the president of TLU and this student couldn’t be more proud of her teacher.
I can only imagine how many thousands more of me there must be, a student inspired by her teacher. Which brings me to this… you never know how much your influence holds or your words penetrate or your actions create ripples in the lives around you. But they do. Trust me!
Thank you, Dr. Cottrell, for staying in touch.
More tomorrow.
Jamie
{trust}
#lovemore
Want daily support in your biggest dreams and promises?
Join me!
Sign up for thepromisedaily.com
The Promise 365 
So amazing that you have stayed in touch. I can understand what a wonderful friend and mentor she is to you. Congratulations to her appointment. Lizette