Souls Departed

This post is a day late. My late stepmother’s birthday was yesterday. However, as always, I have been caught up in work and other personal stuff, so I wasn’t able to stop and write about something.

She was a fun person. She wasn’t the usual stepmother character that used to be portrayed in fiction where she had imaginary horns and always made things difficult. In fact, she was kind and nice to me. She did not treat me like a daughter, which was just as well because I honestly did not see her as a mother. I already had a mother, and I did not have the need for one more. She also did not try to be my best friend. When I lived with her and my dad, I was at a point in my life where all I wanted was to get away and go some place where nobody really knew where I came from, and I could pretend I had a pretty normal life.

I am thankful for the years I spent with her and my father. It was during those years that I realized exactly what I wanted to happen with my life. I realized I wanted to be on my own, how badly I wanted to be free. So when the first chance at freedom came to me, I grabbed it without any second thoughts.

I try not to regret anything that’s happened in my life, any decision that I’ve made. However, the only regret that I may have is that I never got to thank her personally. I wish I could have seen her before she passed away. I wish I was able to tell her that all is well. Wherever she is right now, I can only pray that she has found peace and happiness that may seem to have eluded her while she was alive.

This One’s For You, Teacher Alice…

A couple of days ago, I lost one of my favorite teachers.

Alicia G. Sarmiento

When I was in grade school, she has been a huge influence. I always looked forward to the things I learned from her. I didn’t really like school, but I loved learning, and the things I learned from her have made a huge impact on me. I’ve always looked up to her. For me, she was next to perfect.

I loved her not only because she was so smart and fierce. I loved her mostly because she had a lot of faith in me. She was one of the people who believed in me, believed that I could go places, reach limitless goals. I could look at her then and know that she was a strong-willed person who knows what she wants and works on getting it.

She was someone who wasn’t afraid to be different. She had her own say, had her own style. She wasn’t someone to quietly conform and stand on the sidelines. She was someone who made things happen, someone who took control of things. I like myself, and I like being different from the rest. I like wanting different things from the usual. She has shown me (and hopefully a throng of other students whose lives she has touched) that a teacher is not just someone who teaches you while you are in school, who molds you into the person that society expects you to be. Instead, she has shown that a teacher’s success is measured long after the endless hours they spend in classrooms or the sleepless nights they have while preparing lesson plans. A teacher is successful when she can confidently let go of her students, knowing that wherever they life may lead them, she has instilled in them the things they need to survive the circus of life.

To her family, I offer my deepest condolences. I sympathize and share your grief because I, too, lost a part of my life with her passing. I thank the Lord, though, to have blessed me with amazing teachers like her.

In case I have never been able to say this, I want to thank you, for all the things I learned from you… You will be missed, terribly…

Rest in peace, Teacher Alice.