If we had come face-to-face, crisscrossing some busy street, I would not have recognized Kevin Milton.

I hadn’t seen him in a quarter of a century. He was now older than I had been when I was one of his teachers. That’s a long time ago, and with that time many changes have come.

He had plenty of hair back then, but now sunlight could be noticed reflecting from the top of his head. Although he was still tall and slim as ever, muscles in his shoulders had certainly expanded, and I wondered if he were lifting weights.

My wife says I sometimes display a slight case of face blindness. I disagree with her armchair diagnosis. It’s true I wouldn’t have recognized Kevin a few days ago if our meeting hadn’t been expected, and likely there have been occasions I’ve failed to recognize someone during casual encounters. But I don’t have clinical prosopagnosia.

Kevin’s sister Brenda told me he was coming from his home in Arizona, for a week-long return to his Kentucky roots. She and Kevin had grown up in a home near where my family once lived. She knew her brother had been a good friend with my son, and she knew Kevin had been one of my students, both in high school and college classrooms. So, she arranged for Kevin to visit our home.

My wife and I enjoyed a pleasant afternoon of sipping tea and catching up with Kevin.

During our conversation, we reviewed memories from the old school days. I recalled assignments in classes during both high school and college and the keen insights Kevin had made during discussions and in his written responses.

He remembered highlights of his classroom studies, and I was pleased to hear several of those involved literary pursuits. He told us how he first discovered the joy of reading and writing from a special aunt and a local librarian even before he first attended school. This passion had followed him through his years in classrooms from elementary school through his graduation from college.

He admitted he was writing as he had time these days with an eventual goal of producing a book. I was not surprised to hear that.

Kevin talked about written works that had influenced him through the years, and I shared books I had found meaningful. In our discussion, we both found suggestions to explore later.

Kevin told us about a rather serious cancer battle he had survived in recent years.

He praised the climate of Tucson, where he doesn’t drive a car, choosing instead to travel by bicycle. He fondly talked about his career at the University of Arizona where he is the editor of the University’s knowledge base. He talked of attractions and activities in his area that have interested him through the years and even recalled once meeting Linda Ronstadt at a social gathering there.

During this wonderful reunion we experienced, it was great to learn Kevin is happy, healthy, and a productive citizen way out west. Teachers like to know their old students have turned out that way.

Even though we might not always recognize all our former students these days, we are so happy to have caught up with Kevin and now can recognize him as the fine man he has become.