I went to a wedding today. It was my third wedding this year, the second that did not involve blood relation. It was also the second to involve my former students. Sitting there watching the bride as she zipped fingers across her eyebrows to push her hair aside just like she used to do in class got me to thinking.

Not about love. Or romance. Or the institution of marriage. Of course not!

It made me think about teaching. I joke that I left public relations and became a teacher because I wanted to earn back my soul. It’s really only half a joke. Or maybe not a joke at all. I did become a teacher because I wanted to do something positive with my life. I didn’t like school, as my 2.5 GPA would attest. I thought I could do it better.

Well, I’m not so sure I do it better, but as I sat in the wedding audience today and didn’t see any other person — teacher or student — from my school other than just one of the bride’s maids, it made me think that maybe I am doing something right. The year is 2013 and a 2009 graduate cared enough to invite me to her wedding.

That feels good. It’s so much better than even the feeling I’d get when my press release earned a big story in The Oklahoman and the crazy-ass wife of the Oklahoma City University president would back off me for a while. But I digress …

Ashly, you were my first favorite student. I’ll always remember your laugh, your tears, the way you comforted your friends, stealing your shoe because of the crazy way you sat in your desk, and the way you looked today at your wedding. I believe you married a man who loves you very much and I hope you both get all the happiness you deserve.