For Diana; June 18 2025

I don’t know that I’ve ever talked much about high school on this blog. Specifically, how a good teacher helped me survive it – and I do mean literally. I didn’t have money for food a lot of the time back then, and I was so underweight that I was passing out in the cafeteria.

But one teacher noticed, and made sure I had somewhere to crash and something to eat.

One teacher knew I loved theatre and music, and would invite me to the opera with her classes on field trips. She knew I was going to have panic attacks in the afternoons during a rash of lockdowns, and she’d either get me somewhere safe or send me right home. When I was processing some hard truths about myself and things I’d been through, she was one of the first people I told. When I was in the hospital, she came to visit and taught me how to knit so I had something to do with my hands while losing my mind in that place.

I still think about her and admire her kindness, her empathy. She inspires me, still. Her name is Diana Ried, and I hope she knows what an incredible person she is.