Make You Proud (June 30, 2019)

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I wonder if you would be proud of me, 
if you saw me now.  
Would your eyes light up
when I came to visit? 
Would you give me the biggest, best hug
in the whole world?
They say I look just like you. 
I talk like you, too. 
They say,
“you remind me so much of your Auntie Jane.”
“She would be so proud of the person you have become.” 
“You were her little girl, and now you’re just like her.”
I am your legacy. 
I am your smile. 
I am your love. 
I am your generosity. 
I am everything you taught me,
but I can never be you. 
Your shoes are impossible to fill. 
When you left, a part of all of us 
left with you.  
A part that can never be replaced
or mended. 
A missing piece that is lost forever. 
I love when people say I am just like you,
but they are wrong. 
No one can be just like you. 
You were one of a kind, 
and everyone knew it —
especially your students. 
When you died,
I went to your classroom. 
You might have been my family,
but you were theirs too. 
You left your mark on those kids. 
You left your mark on all of us. 
I wish you could be here now 
to see the person I have become. 
To guide me and tell me that everything is okay. 
To reassure me that I can teach,
just like you did. 
That I can be and do anything. 
But you are gone,
and I am here. 
But, with you watching over me, 
I am going to teach. 
And if I am half the teacher you were, 
I know I will make you proud. 

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