I used to be in what I call the school business. I taught for many years. Why am I writing about this? Today when I went in for a Doctor's appointment, I was escorted, as per usual, back to the exam room by a technician at the Dr's office. Somewhere deep in this ancient mind, I thought she looked familiar. And she was!! She recognized me immediately and called me by name. Mr._______, did you teach at ______ School? Yes, I answered and told her she looked familiar and lo and behold she did attend that school, and was in the classroom next to mine. In fact, one of her best friends was in my classroom and she promised to say hello to her for me. Wow! This really gets one who has taught that long! You remember all the kids as they were in your classroom at age 10 or 11. And when you see them as adults, you must ask them things like, "Tell me your name." "Whose class were you in?" and so on. This has happened before, and always did to my Dad in our hometown when I was young and would go downtown with him on errands. We would see his former students and they fondly greeted him and remembered him.
It really makes you think of the past, present and the future when you see and talk with your former students. What a pleasure to know they are doing well. I like that. The Technician had lots of nice things to say about me as a teacher and I appreciated the comments. Sometimes it brings a tear to ones eye! And it did!
"A teacher affects eternity, he/she can never tell where his/her influence stops."
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