Dear My Favorite Teacher,

I want you to know that no matter what happens to me for the rest of my academic career, no teacher will ever top what you did for me. Sure, I had plenty of "favorite" teachers over the years. Teachers who stretched my mind in ways that I did not know that it could; teachers who pushed me until I thought I would break, only to find that they had taken me to the next level; and even teachers who were there for me, and cut me slack on days I wanted to fall apart. None of them, however, will ever match up to you.

You were my saving grace.

The setting: Freshman year, honors English, second semester.

I had just had a semester with the worst English teacher I have ever had (she honestly has yet to be topped as worst English teacher). I'm not entirely sure that it was her fault, though. She was retiring at the end of the year and she never even made the effort to learn how to even say my name. Then came second semester, and with it, your class. It helped me that it was very intimate (only nine students); I was so used to small classes, and at Troy, all of my classes were 25+ students. I even got to have you as my teacher the entirety of sophomore year, for which I will forever be grateful.

At that time, school, and more specifically you, were the only constants in my life. In a time where I felt like my whole world was collapsing, crashing together like a small wooden boat against rocky reefs, you were the one fixed point in my life. The one person I had to hang on to while my family was...to put it simply, struggling.

Most importantly, though, you understood me. Every day I would talk to you before class to find out how you were doing and talk to you about what was happening in my life. You listened in a way that I knew my family could not at that time (no matter how much they wanted to). You listened, and when no one else at school had any idea what was happening at home, it was a relief to be able to know that someone understood. One person would listen. And this one person wantedto. When I was not able to do a homework assignment, you did not question it. When I needed to leave class, or I missed a day of school, you never asked why, except to see if I was okay. You always asked if I needed anything, and although I said no, it was only because you were already giving me everything that I needed.

When I graduated, the person I was most devastated to leave was you. I knew that no matter how hard I tried, life would get in the way and that we might lose touch. I knew that I would not be able to talk to you every day between first and second hour (making me late to chemistry every single day Junior year—whoops), just to catch you up on how I was doing and tell you some funny anecdote from class, or whatever weird book I was reading. I knew that I would not be able to get new book recommendations every week from you or show you my writing.

I want to thank you for everything you did for me. Maybe it was not much for you, but it meant everything to me—it still does. Without your support, I am not sure I would be quite where I am, or, at least I know I would not be as confident in my ability to take care of myself.

Thank you so much, Mrs. Parks, for everything. But mostly, thank you for the love and attention you gave to me when I needed it the most.

Love,

From The Student Who Needed You