Rident Stolidi Verba Latina

Ovid wrote that. It translates to "(only) fools laugh at the Latin language." Our Latin Club t-shirts in high school had that quote on them. It was all a cute little trap, laid out for those who would mock us. I even managed to spring it. Once. But that's not quite what this is about.

I recently had a rapid exchange of (non-IM) messages with someone who seems to have forgiven me my past rudeness and downright insensitivity, though perhaps the depths of my viciousness (at the time) are as yet unclear. But it brought to mind what Eric Leadbetter, my Latin teacher for four years, vocabular development teacher for one semester, tour leader in Italy ('86) and Greece ('88), and friend wrote in my senior year annual. These words I cherish more than any others written in one of my year books:

Vale mi amici. Iter breve erat.

By that time—mid-1987—we had been to Italy together and survived. He had helped me through what turned out to be the worst day of my life, though maybe one or two since have come close (they never beat it because there was always a reason for them). I worry that with my holiday schedules and family budgets as tight as they both are I won't have the chance to sit down and have a cup of coffee with Mr. Leadbetter. When I walk into a classroom, I am as an echo of Mr. Leadbetter that mixes with an echo of my maternal grandfather, another high school teacher.

Whether or not we ever have that cup of coffee together, I already know what I will say on that day I learn of his passing (may it be far from today): Vale mi amici. Iter breve erat. If I am fortunate, I will hear an echo back that reminds me of the brilliance inherent in the dual meaning of "vale."