if you check out our guestbook, you'll see a new comment from someone named chang nguyen. since those of you at casa don't know who she is, i would like to introduce you. chang was my student 5 years ago at luther burbank high school in sacramento, and she was one of the best students i ever had the pleasure of teaching in my life. besides being beautiful, humble, and smart, she is one of the kindest, gentlest, sincerest human beings alive. she learned that from her parents. they would give you the shirt off their backs if you needed it. i know because they helped me, and extra wasn't something they had a lot of back then. i'll never forget the day they drove me home from work. it was raining, and my car wouldn't start, so i was walking. they saw me, pulled over, and squeezed me into the cab of their pickup truck and drove me all the way home. they gave me meals of homemade viet food because they knew as a first-year teacher i had little time to cook for my newly-wed husband or myself. they even invited me to have thanksgiving with them this year! they cared about me as if i were a member of their family, and i was nobody to them, just some lady who taught their kid english. i learned a lot about love from chang and her parents, and this thanksgiving, i am grateful to still be in touch with her. she saw me online tonight and IMed me a minute ago, filling me in on how her classes at davis are going. she made me smile today like she does: ^_^ becoming a teacher was the best thing that ever happened to me. i am so lucky to be paid to do what i do. and i hope in 5 years i'll be blogging about casa families like i am today about chang's. happy thanksgiving, everyone. have i told you lately that i love you? =)
