To: Mrs. Lee

It's crucial when growing up to have someone you feel comfortable speaking to, whether it's for advice or just an intellectual conversation. Personally, I have different people I go to for various topics of conversation. I go to my mom for help with boys (generally) among other things, I go to my dad when I need a pick-me-up, and I go to my friends when I'm sad. Today, I found that I have a new person to go to. Someone who can relate to me on a personal level and who appreciates what I think and feel on a day to day basis. She not only acknowledges my thoughts and feelings but my intelligence and way of expression.

I know there is a very good chance she will read this but that is far from why I chose to write it. Her appreciation of what I do and what I go through inspires me further. Just by telling me she takes time out of her day to read what I have to say she fuels me to write more.

I write this blog because most of the time my thoughts sound exactly the way I spill them out on here. Virtually everything I think would come out far too stuck up, not to mention inappropriate, for everyday conversation. These words I convey to the world via Blogger wouldn't even fit appropriately into an intellectual conversation with someone my age. I sometimes feel as though I have no one to talk to about my innermost thoughts merely because they would sound bogus coming out of my mouth. They sound so much more appropriate written somewhere than said aloud. I was afraid that this would be the only way I'd ever have to say what I literally have physical urges to communicate. It took really getting to know my English teacher on a personal level to realize I could converse with a live person the way I do with anonymous online readers.

I'm sure it's no coincidence that the teacher I relate to most is, in fact, an English teacher, but it's just such a relief to know that there are people with logic similar to my own. I feel great relief in knowing there are other people who ponder open-ended questions and try to decode life's mysteries or even their own mysteries on their own time. It's surprising that at eighteen years old I am just first meeting someone who is like me in that way, but at least I can say I know one.

Mrs. Lee, if you do read this I wanted to say thank you for the thousandth time. I know I say thank you often, but I don't consider it repeating myself. Every time I say it, it's for something new that I've realized you've done for me or made me realize. Thank you for treating me like a person and not a student. Thank you for taking class time to talk to me about the blog I wrote the night before and your take on it. Thank you for encouraging me to write more, because it truly is what I love to do. I have many things I'd love to know your thoughts on and I love to hear your stories, so I very much hope I can stay in touch with you after I graduate. If it's only through my blog, so be it. You are an amazing teacher and an amazing human being.

Thank you.