As of late, Jan has had commitments that have required all of her time. Because Jan is busy, I, Kim, will write a first-person Slice of Life. Once again, thank you to all of the fine folks at Two Writing Teachers who make this possible!
Because it was my very first book, the arrival of Reading Wellness was ceremonious. Taking it out of the box and touching it and seeing our labors as a final, finished product was enough to make me cry, however, the real tears began to flow as I opened the book and began to turn the pages. First the title page. I traced my fingers over the letters and stopped when I saw my name sitting proudly alongside Jan’s. Next the dedication page. My eyes skimmed over the words that I had written for my husband. Then I glanced upward to be reminded of what Jan had said to her husband only to discover that the words had changed since we submitted them to Stenhouse. I read slowly and carefully:
I began to sob.
When Jan and I began writing together in March 2012, I knew her only through reading Preventing Misguided Reading. Though I had had long conversations with her in the margins of my copy of the book she had written, these had been one-sided chats.
She didn’t know me at all. However, after a couple of phone conversations she said, “Let’s write a blog together…and…let’s write every day.”
We hit the ground running. At first, as much as I embraced the task, writing was an act of bravery. When she shared things that she had drafted, I was hesitant to suggest changes. I mean, she wrote books. I just wrote…for myself. What did I know?
When I drafted blog posts, I worried about sharing them with Jan: What will she think? I wondered. If I write this, will she think I’m a fraud? Fortunately, courage triumphed over fear and day by day, Jan and I got to know each other through our words and the white space between our words.
During that time, Jan and I talked regularly on the phone and now, a day without talking to Jan is like a day without brushing my teeth (which I promise, does not happen very often). When I go to work and I meet a child who says, “I think you are magic because you’re making me LOVE reading!”, my first thought is I have to call Jan. When I do, she says with genuine curiosity, “Tell me about the lesson. What did you say? How did you say it?” And on the flip side, when things don’t go well and I meet a child that says, “I don’t get this, this is boring,” again I think, I have to call Jan. She listens to these stories with the same unprejudiced mind and says, “Tell me about the lesson. What did you say? How did you say it?”
And sometimes there are days when Jan needs to talk to me. She will call and tell me about something interesting a child said during a shared reading lesson. Or, she will need to read aloud to me from a book that inspires her. She will tell me about what she is thinking and then it is my turn to ask her questions. We talk and talk and talk and oftentimes, we are surprised when we look at the clock and see that two hours have passed.
Four years ago, I longed for a learning companion and who showed up at my virtual doorstep? Jan. So, yes, I wept when I saw Jan’s dedication to me because I feel exactly the same about her. It isn’t often that you find someone who is a true friend and a good writer and when you do, you celebrate your good fortune.