"That's a former student..."

Being a teacher is one of the most unique jobs as far as encountering former students. Because students can grow up to be anything. Literally anything. And having worked in 3 different schools over the course of nearly 18 years, I have taught approximately 1700 people. 1700 different people, from different neighborhoods, different types of families, different religions, different walks of life. Which essentially means I can bump into them in 1700 different places.

Now, the other part of this, means that it's 1700 names that I rarely remember. I always recognize them and usually something about them, but names? That's a much harder task. So usually I introduce them to my family as, "This is a former student..."

Once, while stopped at a stop light, someone slammed their palms against the hood of my car and started waving their arms. "Miss. Washington?" So I rolled down my window and we briefly caught up before the cars behind me started honking. A few minutes after we pulled away, my son, probably 6 or so at the time, asked, "Who was that man?" Man? What man? "Oh, that's a former student." For my son, he saw a man, probably in his late twenties, but for me, an 8th grader, just bigger. Frozen in time, for me, his teacher - but for my son, a grown man pounding on our car at a stop light.

What has been most rewarding is when I find these former students in the lives of my children. A camp counselor for my son's overnight camp, my daughter's swim teachers (two different times from two different schools), two different garbage men, the waitress at a local taco place, most recently the mechanic doing my oil change. 1700 different options, 1700 different lives. 1700 different people they've become.