Thank You Mr. Glick
How do you select moments to remember someone by when everything they did was so memorable?
Because of Mr. Glick, I was able to journey to Europe at age twelve and experience the thrill of international travel. I can still remember standing on the bank of the Thames, looking up at Big Ben and thinking how remarkable it was that people worked and lived in a such a magical place that felt like the inside of a history book. Eleven years after my seventh grade Europe trip I became one of those people while pursuing an MA in Chinese Studies at the University of London where I met my future husband. I doubt I would have had the imagination and drive to live and study abroad had Mr. Glick not shared his love of Europe and showed me it was possible at such a formative age.
I also owe Mr. Glick gratitude for his high grading standards. After I earned an F in Social Studies I was demoted from head team leader to assistant and transferred to a new team. The demotion was not only a wake up call to the fact that my sub par levels of studying were no longer acceptable, more importantly, the demotion allowed me to develop a friendship with my new team leader, Shirley, over late night faxes of current event scripts. My friendship with Shirley continues to this day and has sustained me through many of life’s challenges, including experiencing 9/11 while we were both college freshmen in New York City.
Mr. Glick will always have a place in my memories. He comes to mind when I pack for a trip and recall neatly rolling my clothes into Ziploc bags, and whenever I stand aside a baggage carousel and catch myself looking for yellow pom poms.
He comes to mind whenever I hear Madame Butterfly and remember the excitement of dressing up and going to see my first opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
I think of Mr. Glick whenever I hear the opening notes of John William’s Star Wars score. I can still see him, shaking a bright orange disc over his head while shouting, “feel the power of the disc!”
His lessons continue to resonate with who I am today, a world travelled stay at home mom homeschooling her kids in the middle of a pandemic. He taught me that knowledge is best obtained through experience, and I try to emulate Mr. Glick by taking my kids on field trips and exposing them to the world of music and art.
Mr. Glick meant so much to so many people. I am eternally grateful that I had the chance to be one of them.