Dear Students,

Dear Students,

I can't relate to you, and I'm not sure I ever will be able to. Today when I was teaching you how to write a memoir, my world was rocked. It may be a trite expression that teachers not only teach, but learn. Yet, the weight of its truth didn't sink in until today.

You were so good. You took your five minutes and answered "Questions for a Memoirist" silently. I didn't realize what was happening until I was already in the thick of it. I saw some of the looks on your faces as you answered questions like "What is an incident that describes what your family is like?" or "What is something you have seen that you can never forget?" or "What is something that has changed your life?" That's when it socked me right in the face.

I had planned this great lesson where I would then describe how I answered each question, hoping that would spur your mind into remembering things you were forgetting. But I was defeated before I started.

See, I answered the questions with "meals around the dinner table, Dad telling bedtime stories, family vacations" and "Leaning Tower of Pisa, Tower of London, Mt. Vesuvius" and "a personal relationship with Jesus Christ."

Your answers were, "Mom and Dad fighting, divorce, kicking out my brother" and "My Dad drunk again" and "Watching my grandparents smoke weed and gamble."

We live in two different worlds. But that doesn't mean I don't love you. Life is not one big warm fuzzy. It can't be sunshine and mountaintops all the time. Life hurts. Life stinks. Life is painful. We experience those times for growth. You don't get to choose your family; you can't even control it. But you can control your education. Just because your family is one way doesn't mean that you have to be that way also. It's your decision. You'll make mistakes. Everyone does. It's like in Batman Begins when Bruce Wayne's father says, "Do you know why we fall down? So we can learn to pick ourselves back up again." You'll fall. But get up. Don't stay there.

This assignment is going to be painful for you. But I believe it will make you stronger. We all have our own hurts and fears and heartbreaks. But they're all different. They're what has helped make us into the people we are today. And that's a good thing.

No, I may not have had the same childhood as you did. But I've loved many who have. And no matter where you've come from or where you go, I'll love you just the same.