A visit from a past student

I have taught now for 1 year. Time enough to reflect back over that first year with some regret for what I would call "the guinea pig class". You know what I mean....first time in the classroom and the teacher is not the seasoned professional that every parent and administrator hopes for.  With more blunders than success, I found myself often thinking, "That was an epic fail....I won't do THAT again..." I mean who knew that a hot glue gun could get THAT hot, or that students would sneak out of your classroom when you weren't looking, and not come back! So it was a really nice surprise to have a student from my first class come by to visit me this week. She is still a student at my school but could not fit the next class of the pathway into her schedule this year. She came by to tell me how much she appreciated what she learned in my class last year. She's smiling and speaking and in my head I'm thinking, "You learned! and remember it!" She went on to explain that in her AP Psychology class there is a large amount of nervous system anatomy and how overwhelmed many of her classmates have been with the subject matter. She however, was sailing through because she remembered it from last year. I don't know if I was more surprised that in all my shortcomings last year, some actually learning was accomplished, or that a student would have the kindness to come by to express her gratitude. Either way, it was a nice surprise.