Yesterday I found out that a former student of mine passed on just two days after his 16th birthday. I was totally unprepared for the devastation I felt - it felt so much like losing a family member-which is strange. Strange because E Kent was in my class for only two years......
Yet, that boy had such an impact on me. He was the youngest in class...just 12 when he joined my pre-O level class. So young, so fresh-faced with that wide, wide grin of his, a voice that had just broken, nerdy in the sweetest way, always with a story book that he would read when I wasn't looking. Yet he wrote beautifully...far beyond his years!
He had a way about him...that had both the girls and the guys totally eating out of his hands... teacher included!! By the time he joined my O level class, E Kent had grown taller by at least 4 inches. He was no longer at a height the girls could easily drape their arms around his shoulders but they still tried! As the only boy and the youngest in class to boot, he was the class' darling and probably the envy of the boys at the entire center as he was always surrounded by all these gorgeous babes.
I left just before my students sat for their FCE. We kept in touch now and then...I wish we had been more diligent at this. Then I would have known the instant E Kent got sick...and when he passed on. I would have wanted to pay my last respects, say goodbye to my favourite student. I would have wanted to hug him one last time....
RIP E Kent.....rest well...you're a treasure...your name engraved on my heart. I love u xxx
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