Influences: in memoriam

I am no longer a younger fellow and have already seen several of my dearest friends leave this world.

He is the father of my two students aged five and three when I last taught them. I remember that Sunday when I went to their house for tutorials. Dad was inside the van, and he greeted me with a smile. I knew he was not well and they were going to the hospital. He called his daughter and told her to take care of me. Then, Dad with Mum left me with the children. That afternoon while I was walking home, I received a call from someone, an aunt of the two children, telling me that Dad had passed away that late morning. 

He is the father of my student aged four. I became good friends with the whole family.  I had an appointment that day. Dad invited me for lunch as always on one of our in-service days, meaning I would need to get out of school during lunchtime. However, I received a message minutes before saying they needed to cancel the appointment as Dad had passed away due to a heart attack. 

I met my colleague when she first came to our school and welcomed her as an administrator of our school. She was a tough person to work with. The first year was rough, but after knowing her ethics and how knowledgeable she was, I started to like her and later, tried to emulate her. We became best friends, always bickering over people but with good intentions. I was also the last person she saw when she left the country for good. I was also one of the last people she communicated with before she passed away. 

She told me she’ll write a book about me. That was many years ago when she found me intriguing and interesting. We became the best of friends and teaching partners in school. She left for the USA but came back hoping to be able to work together. It didn’t materialize since there was no opening in our school, but we continued to communicate and see each other until there was an emergency that she needed to return to the States. That was the last time I saw her. She didn’t return to Thailand because she had an accident in her hometown and passed away. 

I like both of them, though not at the same time. The architect was a crush of mine. He is very intelligent and with a well-liked manner that is captivating. I was just a new graduate then so meeting him was like, ‘I wanna be like him.’ (Or maybe subconsciously, I hope he likes me.) The other person was a nurse turned flight controller. He looked good as a person with a very nice smile.  We became close because he was a frequent visitor here in Thailand. I remember the longest conversation we had when I was traveling from one province to the next. He was there chatting with me, and we were laughing like crazy. Both got sick with pneumonia but later on, I found out from a common friend that one of them had succumbed to HIV. 

All of them were actually younger than me except for the architect. They were all my influences personally and professionally. Chatchai, Dad One taught me to be caring. Danupab, Dad Two pushed me to believe in myself. Mia, my administrator, supported me in my goals. Joan, my co-teacher, had faith in me. And my two friends Sid and Jed shared their experiences that made me more of a man than a common person. 

Rest in peace my dearest friends. Until we meet again.