when a teacher goes

To me Ella will always be someone who taught me how to be a better person at work.

Despite the office gossip that she occasionally shrugged off like dandruff on her shoulder, nothing quite stopped her from doing what she does most of the time on her free time -- talk to me.

So this is for her, on her last day in the office. I found this code and am pasting it on my blog to remind me of the song she would sometimes blurt out.

Today I saw her have a heart-to-heart talk with Ruthie. I have no idea what they talked about. Both of them looked serious.

It's a good thing that Deanne wasn't around when she gave me a long hug as I sat on my chair. I almost forgot why Ella did that until I realized what day it was.

When she found me among colleagues, she walked over and sat on my lap. She didn't care what the others would think. She must've intended to do that just to drive them mad with whatever malice they already carried in their minds. Anyway, it was her last day.

Earlier, she waved at me from her workplace. I waited for her to approach me. I thought it was something official but it turned out that she simply wanted to take a snapshot of us together with her phonecam. That was sweet.

And on her way out, she embraced me; and, without letting go, she gave me a very warm 5 second kiss on my cheek. The kind that said, "Goodbye. I'm going to miss you."

This time I felt that she did that, not to spite the office gossipers, but because she totally meant to do so.

And I will treasure.

* * *

kids should know that...

"I Knew I Loved You" is a song by Savage Garden. It was their second number one after Truly Madly Deeply. It reached the top spot of Billboard Hot 100 on the week dated January 29, 2000. It stayed there for three consecutive weeks, before being knocked off by Mariah Carey's "Thank God I Found You" featuring Joe and 98 Degrees, and returned to the top again the following week for its fourth and final week at the top. (wikipedia)