One thing that stands out from when I was taking the meditation class with you was how you used your own life's experience to give examples of how the practice works for you, and with great humor, I might add.  This probably helped me more than anything, having the teacher relate herself as a student also, so that the student could have a sense that student and teacher roles are in constant interplay.  I may not be expressing this as succinctly as someone like Shinzen would, but I think you probably get my drift.

Also, even though the class was two years or so ago, and I didn't really practice again until this retreat, I remember you saying that when you were first introduced to Vipassana, you didn't really use it until you were in a crisis situation, and I can see how that is somewhat true of myself as well.  My life is a bit daunting at present for a number of reasons, and guess what - now I'm doing my best to sit regularly.  In fact, that's my next stop after this e-mail.
With metta,

Sarah