Come on in, The water’s fine. I’ll give you Till I count to nine. If you’re not In by then, Guess I’ll have to Count to ten.

I memorized this poem that sits on page 1 of a 📚 book I received in 1988 from my 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Palovich. In less than 30 minutes, I had this new treasure of a poem etched in my 🧠 brain. This book has traveled with me to every new 🏠 home since 3rd grade. Somewhere along the way, a frenetic puppy named Wendy chewed the cover right off (still very MAD at you 🐕 Wendy, RIP). The Random House Treasury of Best-Loved Poems is the name of this book.

Anyone Want to Battle Verse The Raven?

The 2nd poem I memorized from this book is The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe (doesn’t every 3rd grader know that one?) If anyone wants to have a 💀 goth moment with me, we can battle verse the Raven (so weird, no takers….)

Back to the book: you can see the inscription here – “Keep reading and writing Jourdan. You have a gift. Sincerely, Mrs. Palovich”. She was the first person I remember encouraging me, believing in me, and spotting my gift for writing and storytelling.

She Made Me Believe

Teachers often know the traumatic backstory😿 of the kids in their classroom. She made me believe that I did not have to be a sad statistic; that I could instead escape, break the cycle, and become something great 💪 . She somehow knew at that very young age that 📖 storytelling would play a big role in that for me. She was right. It’s served me well not only in my marketing career, but in so many other domains in my life as well (like being able to write compelling scholarship letters or adoption bios that led to being chosen by a birth family). Almost everything in my life points back to words and the ability to frame concepts.

In today’s kick off of #TeacherAppreciationWeek, I am thinking of you Mrs. Palovich 👩‍🏫 and all the other teachers just like you who changed the trajectory of their students’ lives. While you are long gone, this book of treasures, and what it stands for, lives on 🌷 .