If you read this blog on a regular basis, you know I have great respect and admiration for good teachers and tremendous disdain for the horrible and lazy ones.
One of my favorite college professors celebrated a birthday recently, and I dropped her a line. It was a literature course, not one of my strong points, but I made it through and even enjoyed the class. In my note, I remembered some lessons learned, and I seemed to make her day, or at least a small portion of it.
Moral of the story: Don't wait for a birthday. It's always good time to say "thank you" to someone memorable and special in your life, especially if it's a teacher.