Fulfilling a Dream

Doris loved teaching. That's why she got her PhD in teaching from Fordham. She worked hard for all her degrees and she didn't stop until she had that super coveted PhD. She dreamt of teaching teachers. She wanted to make a difference in the realm of education. She even wrote a textbook to help teachers teach English to non-native speakers.

As Doris's granddaughter, I remember what it was like to be taught how to read by that smiling and patient woman. It took two or three days of frustration on my part, but she always knew I could do it, and I never stopped reading once I learned. In fact, I loved it so much I ended up a writer so that I could contribute more into that realm of knowledge and books.

My grandmother (Nana to my brother and me and Grandma Doris to our cousins) never did teach teachers. She retired from Stamford Public Schools and moved south to Florida with my grandfather before later succumbing to dementia. Watching that once vibrant woman descend into the depths of forgetting herself and those she loved was absolute torture for my mother and the rest of our family. Even the knowledge of her own accomplishments disappeared. 

The other day, my mother and I were talking. My grandmother passed away before I graduated from college and well before I joined the Peace Corps, but I think she would be proud of me. And as I get ready for the start of my semester at this wonderful teacher's college, my mom reminded me quietly, "that was Nana's dream...to teach teachers." 

So this trip to China, this wonderfully challenging and sometimes frustrating endeavor that I decided to undertake at 33-years-old, I dedicate to her, my grandmother, who taught me how to read. I'm fulfilling this dream for both of us.