Love is a small word with a big meaning. Who we love, we choose. Therefore my advice is choose wisely. I feel inclined at this point to say “I like more than I love.” Don’t get me wrong, I do love and I love many. But love is reserved for those I respect. I like many people, things and places. I like most everything. But to move up to the word love, then you have my respect and reverent adoration.

Life teaches us the meaning of loving. In my life as a teacher, I find loving my young students easy. You want to know what I teach, it is not so much art, but more about loving one another, respecting one another and appreciating another. That is what I do and I do it well. Tomorrow I start teaching another year of high school art in China, and I sit here thinking about the fifty bright eyed sophomores starting our IB program. I can’t wait to see how many exciting things they embody that I will like and love. How will I teach them to love and respect? How will they respond to me? How will we get along? I am excited for the first moment my blues eyes encounter their brown ones.

Loving respect is wonderful, and now after a year in Nanjing and a wonderful summer with all my dear sweet friends in America I realize I want this loving respect for myself. Having been the teacher, I need to be the pupil and demand it in my life. Sharing this information I realize I have slowly changed my future. My astute son-in-law noted in a conversation the other day that I had rounded a corner and changed my path, no longer leading a co-dependent life. Maybe I have found true love this year.