Halfway through the term, the verdict is in!

Yes, we have completed only five weeks of the ten-week quarter.  But, I am ready to call it a success.

I don't have to wait for any longer.

It is not that I don't have to classes anymore; I do.  I have tests to assign and papers to grade.  But, yes, the term is a success already.

Last week, I entered the hallway and proceeded towards my office when I saw "B," waiting outside my office door.  Notice that I didn't write "my student" and I merely mentioned "B."  My interactions with B are like some of those that we would not normally expect.

B has never been a student in any of my classes.  Her academic interests are way outside my interests.  As much as I can engage in conversations on many topics, well, not in what B is into.

So, how do I know B?  Initially it was because of her sister, "A."  And then, I suppose I became something like an academic godfather, an uncle, on campus.

Thus it was that B would swing by for a chat.  And, often, she brought with her cookies or bread.  Baking was her specialty.  Not baking with stuff from a box, but the original way.

Last summer, B got married.  I felt privileged when she invited me to that small gathering.  Weddings here in the US are so different that way from those that I had attended in India.  In the old country, a gazillion people  get invited to a wedding that, typically, the girl's parents pay for.  Almost always, the bride and the groom might not even know a third in attendance--the couple merely provide the reason for a whole bunch of people to gather.

In the US, because very few are invited to weddings, it says a lot when I am invited to one.  I feel awesome knowing that I mattered even that much in somebody's life for them to invite me mark such a special and important milestone in one's life.  It seems like except for the first three years in Oregon, I have been invited to a student's wedding every single year.  The best compensation for me!

As I neared my office, it was obvious that B was carrying a package--she looked pregnant.  "I wanted to show you this" she beamed in her face as she pointed to her tummy "and to also give you this."  B gave me a well-wrapped parcel, with ribbons.

Home-baked cookies.  Shortbread cookies, with jam in the middle.  Just the way I like them!

We chatted for just a bit before she rushed off.  I greedily ate a couple of cookies in my office, and then had the remainder at home.

Tomorrow, is another student's wedding.  "G" and his fiancée will be wed tomorrow at the courthouse.  That courthouse setting for a student's wedding will be the first for me.

Now, don't you also think that this term has been a success?

I wish B, G, and all the students a wonderful life ahead.