Congratulations are in order.

I crossed paths this morning with a colleague whom I went to grad school with and sometimes have lunch with.

He held out a hand for a shake. "Congratulations," he told me, apropos of nothing.

"For what?" I asked, puzzled.

"Oh, I don't know. There must be something worth congratulating."

"O... kay." I returned the handshake. "Congratulations to you, too, then."

"I just finished grading 40 essays," he said.

Finally, I got the idea. "And I finished another round of paper tutorials with my students," I said.

"The thing is, this time I can see improvement. It's the time of semester for that." A worthy feat for congratulation indeed.

I thought about that a second. "You know what? Me too. They are improving. This coming batch of papers is a little better than the previous ones."

The thought sent me off to my first class with a smile. A little perspective is useful sometimes.

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