Corny

Corny
To Jan Black

Corny, I know it will sound corny when I tell you how much you've helped me.

How much it means that you believed in me, but did not refute my struggles
struggles to learn to accept myself.
struggles to learn to love myself and then to love others.
struggles to express the feelings boiling up inside that had been suppressed too long.
struggles to create and accept my creating as good.
Instead you helped give meaning to those struggles.

How much it means that you listened, but did not condemn my ideas, even when they were different from yours.
listening when I laughed.
listening when I moaned and complained.
listening when I was angry with the world.
listening not with condemnation,
But listening, as a friend, to help me grow.

How much it means that you stressed the "learning together," and not the "sit down and let me teach you."
learning together that Grammar "ain't so tough!"
learning together that Mythology is important
learning together that formal writing is a frame
learning together the magic and mystery of the Modern Period
Learning together, yet teaching much more.

Corny, it may be, but here goes:
Thank you.