The Absentee Girl

I'm such a sucker for all those movies where educators and coaches change the life of students. Yesterday, Coach Carter arrived from Netflix. I think Samuel L. Jackson is a great actor, so I was eager to watch the movie last night.

Those movies always make me want to cry.

I know it's rare that an educator or a coach can touch the lives of so many, but I think they all deserve our thanks. Just touching the life of one student and making it better makes such a difference to the world.

It reminds me of my favorite teacher, Mrs. Manuel. She was my 4th grade teacher, and I was definitely the teacher's pet. I adored that woman. Each morning, I had to go around and collect all the absences from every teacher in the entire school. That made me feel so special because it showed that I was the student they thought could miss 15 minutes of class and never fall behind.

I remember reading aloud in class too. Everyone would usually take turns, but it was me alone who read the entire story about Junko Tabei. She was the first woman to ever climb Mt. Everest, and I have never, ever forgotten that. I'm sure no one other 4th grader recalls her story, but I do. I was always so quiet, and reading an entire story out loud to the class helped bring me out of my shell.

I recall one day that I walked straight into the office, which was right across from our classroom. All of a sudden, I had become homesick and I wanted to talk to my mommy! I called her from the emergency phone on the desk and told her I missed her. The secretary started screaming at me that I didn't have permission to use the phone, but I didn't pay her any attention. I walked right back to my class.

Mrs. Manuel never said a word to me about it.

And although I was a good student, she helped me have a greater self confidence. As I grow older, many of my memories have faded from my adolescence. Grades are starting to blur together. But Mrs. Manuel will forever stand out in my mind. I was a shy, dark-haired little girl and she made more of an impact on me than she will ever know.