Mary Elizabeth Warner

“It was a long way to Cordoba.” This is the starting line of a personal narrative Lizzy wrote in fourth grade about going to visit her grandparents’ farm. I have never forgotten this first line nor the memoirs Lizzy wrote as a fourth grader - and it’s been 20 years- because her descriptions were so vivid, poignant and emotional. It might be true that she didn’t enjoy going to the after school program and she would rather stay in the classroom and write, but in staying and writing she developed a style and passion project and bond with me. There was a story about picking blackberries with Andrew that left the reader right there in the fencerow with Andrew’s face covered in blue, sharing blackberries like Holy Communion while Mom’s voice called them to come to the house. Another story had Lizzy’s dad waking her up to make a trip to the “gum store” which was the gas station. Yet another explained a trick her dad taught her which she shared for a class show-and-tell where she “removed an eyeball from her eye, popped it in her mouth for a moment and then replaced it into her eye socket.” These are the stories that she wrote with such passion and description that they have stayed with me all these years. Lizzy and Kelly also had them bound in a book as a gift for me. But aside from the book I remember them because Lizzy’s writing voice was that strong and descriptive. Sometimes it seems that teachers have favorite students. You might think that Lizzy was a favorite student of mine and it’s true but I can explain how that happens. Lizzy made me feel like I was a great teacher. She was so receptive and wanted to take feedback and in so doing she validated me. The relationship was reciprocal because my spirit was being nurtured by Lizzy. Besides, some people are just easy to like, and that was Lizzy. Historians say that if you want to live forever, you should write. In so doing you capture a moment in time that is preserved as a snapshot. I wish I could share Lizzy’s stories so you could see for yourself that you might find yourself thinking about Lizzy tomorrow and in the future…in the hay loft in Cordoba, in the berry patch and for me, a delightful student, forever dear to my heart.