This post may contain affiliate links.
If you make a purchase, My Modern Met may earn an affiliate commission.
yo readour disclosurefor more info.
This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase, My Modern Met may earn an affiliate commission. Please readour disclosurefor more info.
On his first day of second grade, he recalled only remembering 10 letters in the alphabet.
He says he was way behind and on track to be left back.
That is until he met his teacher, Ms.
I could see he was sharp as a tack, but it was hard for him, Lungstates.
Sadly, Kochai lost touch with the teacher after the his family moved several more times.
All throughout highschool and college, he explains, I tried to find Ms.
Lung, to thank her for everything she’d done for me.
He couldnt come up with her first name.
She’d always just been Ms.
Lung to me, he admits.
By his mid-20s, Kochai gave up his search.
Also during this post-secondary time of his life, Kochai was starting to pursue a successful career in writing.
Lung’s neurosurgeon happened to read an article Kochai wrote for Literary Hub magazine that mentioned Ms. During their next visit together, her neurosurgeon asked, Did you ever teach at Alyce Norman Elementary School?
Afterwards, Allen Lung, Ms.
Lungs husband, reached out to Kochai through Facebook.
Lung asked the author if he wanted to speak with his wife that same night.
Kochai cried when he heard her voice.
It was a hectic time and we lost touch.
Allen rushed up to the author, introduced himself, and brought him over to reunite with Ms.
I don’t know how I didn’t see her before, but Mrs.
Lung was sitting in the front row.
The two were able to chat and laugh as Kochai signed her book.
I tried to write on the page what I couldn’t express with my voice, he recalls.
After taking down the Lungs numbers, Kochai invited them to dinner.
At the beginning of second grade, Kochai was falling behind, until he met his teacher, Ms. Let me tell you a story.
This is Susan Lung.
She taught me to read and write in a single year when I was 7 years old.
I’ve been looking for Susan, hoping to thank her in person, for almost twenty years.
I don’t think my teacher knew how to handle an ESL student.
He used to punish me for not understanding his
directions.
I continued to struggled with English.
Then, after first grade ended, my family went back to Afghanistan for the summer.
I fell in love with Logar, but…
But I’d completely forgotten all the English I’d learned in school!
I was was way behind and on track to be left back.
But then I had the fortune of meeting Ms.
Lung
Ms.
Lung sat with him nearly every day after school to give him extra lessons on reading and writing.
By the end of the year, he was proficient.
After moving schools several times, Kochai lost touch with Ms.
Lung, but set out to find and finally thank her.
After that, my family moved a few times more and I lost track of Ms. For years afterward, all throughout highschool and college, I tried to find Ms.
Lung, to thank her for everything she’d done for me.
I searched google and social media.
I called my old school and visited
The district office.
But I kept hitting deadends.
The main problem was that I didn’t know Ms.
Lung’s first name!
She’d always just been Ms.
In my mid 20s, I’d pretty much given up on the search.
Lung had moved on to a new state, a new life.
Apparently Allen Lung heard about an article I wrote for LitHub where I mentioned Ms.
He asked me if I wanted to speak with her that night.
My family and I all gathered together for the call.
My parents had been wanting to thank Ms.
Lung for years as well.
When I finally got the chance to hear Ms.
Lung’s voice, tears welled up in my eyes.
We all cried that night.
Unfortunately, this was at the height of the pandemic, and we were still qurantining at the time.
We promised to meet in the future.
It was a hectic time and we lost touch.
But then, last night, after my reading, Ms.
Lung, and seven year old me finally got to hug my 2nd grade teacher again.
We chatted and smiled and cried a litte.
I signed her book and tried to write on the page what I couldn’t express with my voice.
I took down their numbers and invited them for dinner.
Now, as a successful author, Kochai continues to attribute all that he accomplished to Ms.
Lung, he said, was my spark.
