Someone Very Special in My Life

            I was in the third grade when I had the joy of meeting my teacher, Irma Jimenez. She was a person who made every child feel loved and successful in some way. She realized that children learn in different ways and knew our strength and weaknesses. As a result she gave us attention according to our needs. Back then I could not imagine the impact she was going to have in my life.
             By the time I was nine years old, my parents had already been divorced for four years. This situation made me very sad and I did not understand why I could not have a normal family. After the divorce, my father moved to the United States and my mom got re-married. After she got married, mom moved to a different city with her new family. When she moved away, we lost contact until I was nineteen years old. My sister Sandra and I went to stay with my father's mom. My grandmother was a cruel and strict person and her presence inspired terror in us. My grandmother was raised in a hostile and violent environment because she did not receive any kind of love she that could not offer to us any. .
             I remember one time when my sister broke a plate while she was washing dishes. My grandmother heard the noise and hurried to punish my sister. She always carried a belt with her to punish us and that day my sister was battered cruelly for something that had been just an accident. There were many other situations like this that made our life very unhappy. One day, during our arts and crafts class, Miss Jimenez called me over to talk to her. She placed a chair next to hers for me to sit in and then she began to speak to me in a sweet and kind voice. Firstly, she said that she was proud of the student I was and also of my behavior in class. However, she said there was something that worried her, "Why are you always sad? " she asked, "I never see you smiling, what kind of problems could you possibly could have? ".
             I couldn't answer as I had started to shed tears.