I love hearing from former students. They pop up for all sorts of reasons. Letters of recommendation? Sure. Reference requests? Yes, yes. Fairly often. Outreach to ask for career or relationship advice? Definitely. Many of the referrals I receive in my consulting business come from former students and clients. They know that Vicki.
When I opened myself up as an author, writing a family-focused memoir, I was well aware that folks who’ve only known me through a professional or acquaintance-level personal relationship would be able to peek inside the whole of my life – all for the price of the book (and/or perusing the “Peek Inside” snippets I’ve been sharing here on Victoria Ponders).
I was ready. These possibilities did not surprise me, and as Wynne and I discussed in our recent podcast about the publishing process, it’s one of the considerations for writers in the memoir genre. Are you ready? Ready for the broad view of your life from people known and unknown?
Yes. I was…I am ready. I’m able to tell the story of my mom’s life because I’m anchored to my purpose – the hope that I may be able to help others by sharing the painful bits, meshed, and mingled with humor and love. One of the readiness hacks? Being extra adept at self-care prior to this period of exposure, ramping up my meditation efforts in order to take care of myself. All good. And then…extra doses of love and humor arrive.
A sweet, lovable former student emailed me last week to follow up on a letter of recommendation for his admission into a doctoral program (he’s amazing!) He’s been following me here on Victoria Ponders and his whole family is a delight. Although I’m not sharing his name, he knows I’m writing about our recent interaction. 😉
Most of his email was focused on the letter; instructions for me to drop it into the university’s portal/website before the deadline. Then he thanked me because he waived his right to review the letter and regretted doing so. Such a simple thing made him happy; me promising to send him a final copy for his own records.
Here comes the fun. In the last paragraph of his email, he shared something that made me bust out laughing. I mean…I’ve never professed to anyone that I’m “normal” (whatever the heck that is) but his closing sentence was a keeper:
“Also. My mom and grandma read your book, the one about your mom. I haven’t read it yet but I will. They’re passing it around to my aunt now but they told me you must really be great. They don’t know how you made it through life with Sue in order to be as normal as you are.”
Me? Normal? Maybe. But his funny comment made my day and reminded me of one of my favorite affirmations (which I write about today in my Heart of the Matter post):
“My natural state is happy. Yours may not be. It’s not a contest.”
Vicki 😊
Victoria Ponders 
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