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I was on my way to work yesterday when my cellphone alarmed and reminded me that it was my former student's birthday. My phone is 5 years old now and its reminder function is very efficient. I don't usually give out my cellphone number to my students but this certain student was the President of my former advisory class and I needed to text her often before. I was assigned to a different school this year so we kept in touch by texting. Her name is KC...

So it was KC's birthday yesterday. I was reminded by my handy-dandy cellphone. I texted her... (verbatim-Tagalog)

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Happy birthday KC. Sana lahat ng mga pangarap mo sa buhay eh makamit mo.. Happy ako kasi mabait ka na bata.. Libre mo ako sa Jollibee ha?

Thank you po ma'am .. na miss nga po kita maam eh .. di naman po sa pag aano .. yung adviser po namin ngaun ibang iba sayo .. ayii ! mcfloat :)

Ay talaga? Mabait naman yung adviser ninyo. Baka pasaway lang talaga kayo. Basta magpakabait lang kayo. Enjoy your day KC.. 'Wag magmamadali sa buhay. Enjoy lang. Tignan ninyo ako wala pa din akong asawa kaya enjoy pa din 'di ba? Basta 'wag kayo magsawa maging bata... :)

syempre maam .. lalo na ikaw ang nag sabi .. :) di nga po ako binati ng adviser namin eh .. pero maam, kelan ka po pala mag asawa? hehe. 

Babatiin ka din nun. Antayin mo lang. Alam mo KC, madali lang ang pag-aasawa. Ang mahirap eh ang buhay may-asawa. Basta 'wag mo muna isipin 'yang mga ganyang bagay sa ngayon. 'Wag ibigay ang lahat ng pagmamahal sa isang tao. Mag-iwan ka sa sarili mo para kahit ano'ng mangyari eh buo ka pa rin.

tamaa ka dyan maam .. dont worry po wala po akong bf. aral muna po dba?

'Pag nakatapos ka na ng college saka mo makikita ang bunga ng lahat ng hirap at pagod mo sa pag-aaral. 'Wag ka lang talaga magsawa sa pagiging bata... Malayo ang mararating mo. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KC! Sana andiyan ako para mayakap man lang sana kita... 

sayang naman .. sige po maam bka nakaka abala na po ako :) .. miss na po namin kau .. we love you maam .. take care po. :)

Sige... Baka next birthday mo malipat ulit ako diyan, magkikita tayo ulit. Ingat ka lagi KC.

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I am your typical strict teacher and I mean business when I am teaching - that's inside the classroom. Once I get out of the room, I can be their mother, friend, sister or whatever. I don't "go out" with them and I don't add them to my Facebook but the least I can do is to text them. Once in a while. And it's so funny because my former students text me using KC's number 'coz I told her before that she can never share my number to anyone. 

I ALWAYS tell my students to just enjoy being kids. That they will eventually be grown-ups and will be facing the "real world". Of course they wouldn't listen because kids will always be kids (they wanna grow up real soon...) but I never fail to tell them to just enjoy their prime years (if only I could bring back those times...).

I want to quote Henry Adams; 

"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops."