How dumb am I?

I have a confession to make.

I read Of Mice and Men on my own in high school and understood only about 5% of the novel. Nearly 10 years later I'm faced with the task of discussing the novel with my 13-year-old students who were assigned to read it all on their own over the summer. Naturally, I tried to read it again myself.

But ughh, I couldn't. I understood it a little better at this later stage of my life, but I still just wasn't grasping it. No lie, my 13-year-old students are the ones who have helped me understand this AMAZING novel.

How sad am I?