I attend church every weekend with my mom at our local parish, and I have for some time now. It has sort of become a special time of bonding between my mom and me, and seeing as we both value our faith, spirituality and time together, all-in-all, it’s a pleasant experience.
An old teacher of mine is a regular at our parish, and we often chat with her and her family after mass. She is one of the best teachers and coaches I ever had, and despite the fact she was my teacher in high school, I now consider her a friend, which I consider to be a pretty special transformation in regard to our relationship.
This past weekend, I was absolutely delighted to spot yet another old teacher of mine, one I quite literally haven’t seen or spoken with in about ten years. I wasn’t sure he would even recognize me as it had been so long, but I figured I would go and say hello.
I am so damn glad I did.
The reaction this former teacher of mine had when he saw me walking his way is probably an experience I will never forget. Our reunion was actually a little bit emotional, and when I said to him I didn’t think he would remember me, he responded with the fact he remembers me more than most. I was absolutely gobsmacked by how pure and genuine his reaction to seeing me was, and our interaction prompted me to consider just how special teachers are both in and out of the classroom.
We so often consider the impacts teachers make in the lives of students, but we don’t necessarily contemplate the impact students make in the lives of teachers. Perhaps this mentality stems from the fact teachers obviously attend to a lot more students than students do teachers, but we shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the idea that the relationship between a student and teacher is dually beneficial.
‘Twas a rather sentimental mass to say the least.
Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash
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