"think 3 syllables, not 2"

yesterday i wrote or typed the word "Wednesday" a couple of hundred times. . . i end most of my correspondence - email, voice mail, snail mail - the same way. . . "happy whateverthedayoftheweekitis!!!" so yesterday was a "happy Wednesday!" day - hence the couple of hundred times.

i went to school back in the dark ages when teachers were respected and if you got in trouble at school. . .well. . . let's just say most of us got in twice as much trouble when we got home.

i will never forget my 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. M. she was older than my mom, dressed very fashionably, and ran a very tight ship. but she gave out candy rewards for those who did their best. kids who struggled got rewards for working hard even if they if they had trouble keeping up.

most of all though, i remember that Mrs. M helped me learn how to spell Wednesday.

i kept spelling it "Wendsday" in all our pre-tests. i was panicked about it - yeah, i was a strange little kid - so on the day of the test, i cheated. i looked over at someone else's paper. i got it right but it was marked wrong. i looked up at Mrs. M as she handed back my paper. she looked right back and asked me if i wanted to talk about it. she was so kind to me. she walked with me to our cloakroom and knelt down and looked me straight in the eye and told me she had seen me. she didn't yell, she didn't belittle me, she didn't embarass me. she didn't say anything else. i said i was sorry. she took her pen and wrote this: Wed nes day and said "think 3 sylables, not 2."

i am pretty certain i spell that word correctly 99.99999% of the time because as i am writing, i am saying to myself "3 syllables, not 2."

Mrs. M didn't call my mom. in fact, she never brought it up again. Mrs. M taught me more than spelling that day. . .

to this day, i am very grateful for her and think of her fairly regularly. . . oddly enough, mostly on Wednesdays. . .

thank you Mrs. M!!!!!