A little over a year ago, my first ever published piece hit the web.  I was so proud.  I ran over to my fitness board (among other places) and told everyone about my short story and provided a link.  One of the board members asked if she could use it in her classroom.  Of course I said yes…and then promptly forgot all about it.

Yesterday she started a thread looking for me and send me a private message.  Another member sent me a heads up on Facebook in case I missed both the PM and the thread (I had but that’s another guilty story). I asked the sender, “Firmagain” if I could publish her note to me and she graciously agreed.

Hey, I just wanted to tell you something.

Several months (years?) ago you posted a link to a short story that you wrote called “The Decision.”  I really liked it and thought that I could use it for my extended reading class, which focuses on short stories.  The class focuses on a short story for two weeks to learn reading comprehension skills.

This time I’ve picked “The Decision,” and along with the vocabulary they are working on predictions and inductive thinking.  Anyway, getting to the point now, today I read the story and my students loved it!!  They were not able to pick up on the twist until the very end.  It was great for predictions.

Thank you for sharing that story.  I will definitely use this lesson again!

She shared that the kids were eight graders who needed a little extra assistance with their reading skills.  She also stated that they had never heard of the horrors of backroom abortions, referenced in the story.  I told her I found that both sad and uplifting.  If ever there was a reason for wanting to write, THIS is it.

My story, The Decision, is on my blog (a slightly earlier draft) and at Joyful! Online (see My Published Works on the sidebar for link)  if anyone wants to read it.  It started out as a flash fiction exercise but the concept had been bouncing around in my head and the prompt allowed me to memorialize it.  These kids have memorialized it even further.