Most Encouraging Words I've Ever Heard, The
Submitted by: David Aldridge
Author: Unknown
Date Sumbitted: Feb 27, 2006
Have you ever heard anyone say, "You've got to read this book; it changed my life;" I've heard that a few times, but I've never heard anyone say that about a high school yearbook until I met Sharon.
It was her last day of high school. The yearbooks had been distributed and all the seniors were scurrying around to get the signatures of their friends, classmates, and teachers. Sharon went from person to person and saved her all-time favorite teacher, Miss Simmons, for last.
When Sharon got home that night, she hurried through dinner so that she could go to her room, all by herself, sit on her bed, and read what everyone had written. When she got to the page of the English Department, she saw Miss Simmons' familiar handwriting. Miss Simmons was a dedicated, devoted, and demanding teacher. As far as anyone knew, she wasn't married and she didn't have any children. Sharon wanted to be a teacher just like Miss Simmons. In September, she would be going to college to major in English. She was sure that Miss Simmons knew how much she admired and respected her, but she wasn't quite sure what her favorite teacher thought of her until she read her yearbook. And this is what Miss Simmons wrote: "Sharon, if I had a daughter, I'd want her to be just like you."
Miss Simmons wrote those words almost 35 years ago. Since then, Sharon must have taken out her yearbook hundreds and hundreds of times to read them. For Sharon, they were the most encouraging words in the world. Now Sharon is a high school English teacher. Every year, she looks forward to that day in June when the seniors receive their yearbooks and are scurrying around getting signatures because there's always one senior who'll find these words written in her yearbook: "If I had a daughter, I'd want her to be just like you."