As always, sponsored by Cedar Valley Hospice.
So man, I had such a great little surprise when I came in this morning.
I was checking messages and I had a morning brightener of a response to my celebration of International Dot Day yesterday, which is a day created by former Tama Community Schools vocal teacher, Terry Shea, who was inspired by a book
called The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds, and just in a nutshell, it tells the story of a student who doubts her artistic ability until her teacher encourages her to make her mark, which is a small dot on a piece of paper, and that becomes the catalyst for even greater creative confidence.
So what Terry did was he took this concept and used it in his class to inspire creativity, and what started off
in one class in Tema exploded into International Dot Day, which is now celebrated in over 200 countries.
I mean, talk about a great example of how one teacher in Iowa can so greatly affect the world in such a positive way.
So what I did yesterday was I honored Terry and his International Dot Day by, instead of using dots, which aren't very effective on the radio, I used lines from various listeners to create an Iowa story.
The first line from one listener inspired the second, which inspired the third until he had this story.
Now the bright spot of this whole thing for me was a response I had gotten after yesterday's show, which reads,
Thank you for the lovely tribute to Terry Shay and International Dot Day on September 15th.
I was at work by the time it aired, but a friend recorded it for me and it was truly beautiful and Terry would have loved it.
I am his widow and can't thank you enough.
As a former creative writing teacher, the idea
that you came up with at the end was perfect.
I used that idea often with my classes, meaning the line from the story begets the second line, the third line, and so on and so on.
Then she writes, thank you again.
Man, I'll tell you what made that message truly special.
I mean, being from Terry's widow, Ellen Shea, I couldn't have gotten a better response than that.
So thank you so much for your words, Ellen.
And Terry Shea deserves at least a great tribute, especially on International Dot Day.
So there you go.
There is a Bright Side sponsored by Cedar Valley Hospice.
They are there when you need that extra layer of support.
And you can call them at 319-272-2002 or visit cvhospice.org to learn more.
