In my senior year Art History class, after the first semester ended, five students in our class earned an A+ and one of those students was me. It was the first time I felt as though I truly earned a grade of that caliber. During Ceramics later in the day, he told me that I was an excellent student and to thank my parents for raising me well. I began to tear up. As the class drew to a close, I just kept crying (because I was happy!) and everyone thought something bad had happened and worried about me.
My professor pulled me aside to the back of the room out of concern. He wanted to know whether he was the first teacher who had ever told me that I was an excellent student. (The answer was yes but I couldn’t bring myself to say it.) He talked to me about my self-esteem and said, “I have more faith in you than you do. That has to change.”
It did. I felt like a new person after that.
Another memorable conversation was with my best friend the day his father died. That’s too personal. I can’t post it here.