ok, i dont feel like going into it to much at the moment, i’m very very very sad. My english teacher from last year just died of cancer. i missed school yesterday becuase i just couldn’t handle. I totalt idolized this woman. she was so smart and driven and opinionated, often misunderstood. people usually took it for being crass, but i totally identified with her. I had a really hard year last year( details in a current thread of mine in mpsims) and she was the only thing in my life i could count on being there. She mad me not want to be sick anymore. i wanted to have the courage to be as outspoken as her. and now she’s gone. And the thing that sucks is i never got to tell her. i just dont know how to handle my feelings anymore. i went to the school counselor when i first found out she was terminal, and i’ve been talking to friends and family about it, but i still feel sooooo horibly shitty. Help me please!!
I wish I could help, but I don’t know what to say.
{{{{{{Sandalfeet}}}}}}
Maybe that will help?
I was on the academic team (sort of like quiz bowl, if you know what I’m talking about) in high school. Our sponsor was a gentlemen named Jim McDaniel. Mr. McDaniel was an industrial arts teacher who became involved with the team after marrying the mother of one of our team members. Mr. McDaniel was a truly wonderful human being. He was one of those people who never knew a stranger. On top of being tremendously popular among the faculty, his students loved him. He could take the shyest, most awkward person in his class (since he taught wood shop, this person was usually a boy who didn’t have the greatest home life or whose family had it rough financially) and make them feel special. When he saw you in the hall and asked you how you were doing he paused to actually listen to the answer. Most people don’t do that. Mr. McDaniel died of a massive heart attack in the fall of 1993. I can remember the moment I heard the awful news like it was yesterday. It was a Sunday morning. I woke up to the phone ringing and something about the sound caught me off guard. I just knew something horrible had happened as soon as I heard that ring. My mom answered the phone and told me to come into the living room. She was as white as a ghost. I was afraid a classmate of mine had died, but I never expected to be our coach. Even reliving that moment now puts a lump in my throat.
In some sense I feel your pain, Sandalfeet. I wish I could have told him goodbye. I wish I could hae told him how great we all thought he was. I wish I could look him in the eye today and tell him that he had a part in making me who I am now. The best thing I can tell you is to dedicate a portion of your life to her memory. Remember her (and what she meant to you) as you advance in your education. I know how it feels to have a teacher change your life. You do too. Never lose sight of that.
I know how you feel 
When I was in high school, my Algebra II teacher, a very sweet but frail old man, was only our teacher for the first 2 months. Then he was away ill… we had a substitute for the rest of the year. Near the end of the year he died. Stomach cancer. It really upset me…
I don’t really know how to help you cope… it’s one of those situations where the only real remedy is the passage of time
Sorry to hear about the loss of your friend. Maybe you could set up a virtual memorial such as at http://virtual-memorials.com/
or suggest that her family set it up.
When I was in grade 12, a teacher I’d had, and liked, in grade 11 died. I only found out about this through the grapevine. I wish the school had announced it. It was like they didn’t think he deserved the respect of a moment of silence, or something.
Will you be at the funeral/wake/memorial/whatever her family’s having?
This is a good idea. You may not have had the chance to tell her how you felt, but it will be good for the family, and likely for you, to let THEM know how this person affected your life, and how much you cared for and respected this teacher. Also, this way you can meet people who have loved and cared for her, too, and be able to share feelings and thoughs on a much more personal level than with friends (unless you’re friends are as upset as you are…). I just think that this would be an opportunity to learn more about her, even if it is after she’s already passed.