Grace

A mentor died recently at the age of 94. When I was a just-out-of-college teacher, she was my supervisor. She took me “under her wing.” She encouraged me. She spoke good words about me. She taught me, by example, how to be a true professional. She opened doors for me. I was promoted into each position she was being promoted out of.

Then she left our town for a job in the city. We stayed in touch. A few years later, I left for a position in that same big city—but, for the first time, not one she was being promoted out of.

By this time, we were on different paths. I had to make my own way. I could, because what I had learned from her.

Her name was Grace.

You write it: Who paved the way for you?