I’D STILL SAY “YES”

One. Two. Three empty chairs. Where have they gone? Twenty. Thirty. Thirty-five empty chairs. Where have all my students gone?

Five months ago, a day after the graduation ceremony, I was standing at the middle of what my students and I used to call home for ten months. My heart felt empty. It felt as if something precious was taken away from it, which left a void recognizable enough to create in me a sense of longing for these children.

Oh, those children! They were to me an icing on top of a cake. I can still clearly remember those moments of triumph and failure, of victory and defeat. We made it through the rain, when tears would stream down their eyes because of poor grades. On the other hand, we remained strong until we reached our goals, when the class wins in a competition or when a classmate makes it to the honor roll.

Speaking about students, two of them stand out in my mind and heart. It was just last February when my advisory class gave birth to a promising student, an MVP to be exact. This boy was part of the national team of swimmers, an excellent captain ball for both basketball and volleyball, a witty and smart student, a musician who played beatbox, drums, piano, and guitar, a member of the church choir, the prince charming of the class, and of course, the teacher’s humble assistant. Whenever I went to the classroom to dismiss them, he was always ready with a joke. He just would love to see me smile instead of frowning because of the dirty floor. He would treat me as a queen. Take note, as a queen. He had only one goal, and that was to make me happy.

Another one was a clever girl who took pride in calling me her big sister. Oh my, what a darling she was! With her, I would always feel loved. She treated me like a best friend would. Jokes came in handy whenever she saw a single pout on my face. When my legs were tired from standing and my body spent from teaching, I would just tell her to sing for me. She’d do it in a snap, with matching wiggles and giggles. See this adorable sea lion? She bought this for me during our field trip in Subic, Zambales last year, naming it Bobby, a sort of friendship bond according to her. If that boy were my handsome knight, this girl was my beautiful confidante. She might be too young, but she certainly knows a lot.

            Wasn’t I lucky then? I wasn’t; I was extremely blessed! One day I was absent because I was down with fever. Do you want to know what surprise awaited me? When I came to school the next day, everything was normal. I saw no sign of anything special. I escorted my students to the classroom, and I prepared my things for my Language class with them. As I opened the door, I was surprised to see two student officers; the rest were nowhere to be seen. They told me how much they appreciated me as their “mother,” and then gave me a piece of paper with directions in it. They had to explain to me that I needed to follow those if I wished to see the rest of the class. What?! Miraculously, I meekly obeyed. True enough, one student was waiting at each assigned place, telling me how much they love me before handing me a piece of paper with another set of directions, until we arrived at the audi gym, three floors down from where we came from. Two boys met me, one ready with a blindfold and the other one as my escort. We walked for few minutes, and when it was time to reveal their surprise, I saw my advisory class standing with each letter card that says, “We love you, Ms. Dolly. You are the best teacher in the world.” Tongue-tied I was. All I did was smile, hug, and thank them.

Teaching is more than rewarding, satisfying, and heartwarming, for what makes it an extraordinary vocation is the quality time spent with children who look up to you as a source of knowledge and inspiration. The memories spent with students are truly worth remembering. Because of that, I would still say “Yes” to the call of being a teacher.