Mrs. Fern

3/3/19

Mrs. Fern. She was my fourth and fifth grade teacher. She was the first teacher I had thus far that gave me a real creative writing assignment. I don’t remember what I wrote about, but I do remember that I had the longest story in the class and I write for almost 15 notebook pages.

Up until this, whenever a teacher asked the question, ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’ I never had an answer. The only thing I liked to do was read, but no one else ever said they wanted to be a reader so it seemed like a too far out idea. Mrs. Fern however, was so impressed by my enthusiasm that she sat me down one day and asked me the question. I said something like a veterinarian or a world traveler. She looked at me then and said

“Belen, I think that you are a writer. You don’t have to be an author to be a writer; because being writers is something that is apart of us, not our job. Your job doesn't have to be what you are when you grow up, you will be who you are. And you are a writer.”

This shocked me and I was in complete awe.

Mrs. Fern has always been one of my favorite teachers, she is a very kind woman and we still keep in touch to this day. So I suppose her words have helped me get to where and who I am. Even if I’m not grown yet.