Last Friday night, I leaned on the fence at a rural West Texas high school football field and listed to the Seagraves High School Band play Sweet Caroline.  Memories came flooding back of high school band practices and Clifford Offill (pronounced like awful, not Ofield).  If you grew up in Stinnett (in the rural Panhandle of Texas), then you might remember the significance of the song Sweet Caroline. 

On certain years when the band was “good enough,” Mr. Offill would pull out the sheet music for Sweet Caroline.  Then IF (and it was a big if) the band could play the song in a passable fashion, Mr. Offill would have the band perform it at the spring concert.  He would dedicate the song to his wife, Caroline. 

Every time I hear that song, I think of Mr. Offill and the years he spent dedicating his life to teaching kids.  I can’t help but admire who he was and what a difference he made in the lives of generations for students that walked the halls of Stinnett High School. 

My one regret is I never told Mr. Offill how he impacted my life (more on that in another blog) and changed who I became.  One time he told me not to ever teach because if I became a teacher, I would fall in love with the students and never walk away.  He urged me to choose a more logical profession .  .  . a profession with more financial rewards.

Mr. Offill was right.  I made a fatal mistake.  I started teaching.  I’ve never been able to walk away because it does make a difference. 

Make a difference today. 

Tell someone who has been important in your life how much they mean to you. 

One day you won’t be able to tell him or her.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009 at 9:49 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.