A Salve of Memory

"And have you seen Sand lately?"

"Oh, I usually see her about once a year..."

Yes, she does. She's the technician who does the gentlest mammograms ever, which any woman would appreciate. And who would ask her if she saw me lately? Why, her sister Lisa, who was a good friend and co-worker years and years ago.

Having a routine mammogram is a good idea -- that's what the doctor would say. Still, having one's breasts smushed and scanned is ... unnerving. Yet the greatest worry I had today was: Will Krissy still be working there? I sure hope so!

And so I was at ease when I saw her. The first thing she told me as I was standing by the imaging machine was that she and her mother were talking about me just a few days before, when the subject of Amish and Mennonites came up, and Krissy remembered me describing the lifestyle of the Amish ... 25 years ago, in a class I taught -- indeed, the first class I ever wrote, Comparative Religions, for a cynical batch of high school students.

The mammogram went fine, and I left the hospital feeling fairly warm and fuzzy, remembering how much I loved my sassy and fractious students, and feeling honored that one of them, so long after, remembered what I said.