A teacher who was like family

Yasmin Miss was my elementary school teacher, and she was like a second mother to me.

When I was growing up, my parents both had very demanding jobs, and they needed someone to take care of their young child all day.  We were new to the city and didn't have any close relatives living near us. My parents were paranoid about hiring a nanny, and daycare centres didn't exist in the country back then.

My teacher, Yasmin Miss, offered to take care of me in my parents' absence, even though she had no obligations to do so. We couldn't quite believe our luck.

For eight years, every day I would go to Yasmin Miss's place right after school and remain there until my parents picked me up on their way home from work. I spent time with her other three children. As it happens, my 'home' soon became equally split between the time spent with my parents and the time I spent at Yasmin Miss's. I never felt out of place there; she never let me. She thought of me as her own daughter.

Looking back, I find it funny that I was ever worried about anything at all - because over the years, her three children grew to be the siblings that I never had. By the time I went to middle school, many of those who were under the impression that Miss had four children, were quite surprised to find out otherwise.

At school, Miss instilled good manners in me, taught me my ABCs and many other things. But I learned more from her at home, where she was more of a mother to me than a teacher. I got my share of her love, but I wasn't spared from any of her occasional scolding. I remember that I had accidently spilled food all over her carpet on my very first day at her place- and was so scared that she would send me home and reconsider taking me in at all. But miss was incredibly patient with me, and inspired me to learn from my mistakes.

I don't deny that I have had other teachers who made learning interesting for me, and helped me beyond the classroom.  But Yasmin Miss's decision to take up my responsibility all those years ago, shaped my early childhood years.

I met Miss recently and she couldn't stop wondering how much I have grown, and I kept thinking about my time at her house all those years ago. The eight years I spent with her were a special part of my childhood, and they had a profound impact on me.