Because you asked me to post
this photo of the two of us
all mortarboard-ed up like so many
of the students we nurtured
to graduations,

many of whom didn’t think
they’d make it—some of whom
we didn’t think would make it—

I’m reminded of your 19-year-old
grin, one of my first community
college journalism students who
set the standard for so many
to come.

Eager and talented,
great-hearted, hard working
and funny, you were someone
whose progress I wanted to follow,
and who, for reasons I’ve never
quite understood but so
appreciate,

has wanted to hang out
with me all these years—
watching you flourish
as a teacher, loving that same
grin as you talk with such
joy about your students,
past and present,

as I still talk about mine.

•••

(for Neil Reilly, with love and thanks for nearly 40 years of friendship)