A Single Seed

When I was a young girl, I never gave my teachers a thought outside of school. I guess it never occurred to me that they had a real life outside of that classroom. But there are a few that stay in my memory for one reason or another.
When I became a teacher, it suddenly occurred to me how much I not only loved the profession, but also my students. I wonder how many teachers thought of me as someone special and wondered how I might live my life and where I might end up as an adult. I would often watch my kids as they conscientiously did their work and my mind would wander to the future. This one will be an architect, that one a doctor, that other one will struggle but eventually succeed, and this one right in front of me will outgrow his antagonistic attitude.
I don't think my students ever really thought of me as someone who had a real life outside of my classroom. However, my last posting was at a fairly small school in the community where I live and parents were quite involved with the school. As a result, I'd often run into my students and their parents as we went about our ordinary lives - the best place to meet was at our local grocery store and the kids would see me as a normal person just like their own parents. During our summer village market days, lots of former students would run up to me and give me huge hugs and ask how I was.
I was doing a bit of grocery shopping this morning and ran into a former student who has graduated from high school. I'd heard that she was planning to become a nurse - what an honourable profession and one I had never thought of for her. As I approached the coffee beans and grinders, she was working with an older lady and I cheerily said,
"Hi L***! How are you?"
"Oh, hi Mrs. Cummings! I'm great, thanks. How are you?" she responded.
So we chit-chatted a bit, but I didn't want to keep her from her work, so after I'd ground my coffee beans and began to continue on with my shopping, I added,
"So, L***, I heard you're going into nursing. Is that right?"
"Well, actually, I'm going to work for a year to save up money for university. And then I'm going to study languages. I took French all the way to grade 12 and I'd like to do something in that area."
And she blushed.
Obviously, I had made an impact on this girl's life. I didn't make a big deal out of it, though, but gave her a high five and simply said, "Good for you! Best of luck!" and carried on.
As I turned the corner of the aisle, I overheard her telling the older lady that I was her French teacher when she was in elementary school.
So, as a flower grows and spreads its seeds, so does a teacher help her students find a tiny little spot within themselves so that they, too, can go out into the world and spread more seeds.
She made my day.