"Class, I have some bad news for you today. I'm unfortunate to say Donald Rodis..."

That's all I needed to hear. Those fifteen words were all I could take, all I could hear, all I wanted to hear. My first instinct was to run out of the room and find him. He was my Engineer and Desgin teacher last year, he wrote a recommenndation for me once, and that's the most I interacted with him. I feel stupid because I loved him as a teacher. His bubbliness, his relaxedness, even the strange random croaks in his throat. The entire time I was in his class, I wanted to be closer, to be a friend. I figured teacher's pet already took that place. I feel ridiculous, so ridiculous. I knew about his condition, cancer.. leukemia I believe. Did he ever tell me what part of his body was affected? I don't remember. I didn't feel the need to remember because I thought he was fine after the first surgery, and I assumed that he was getting better after each one. What I couldn't figure out was that the more surgeries, the worse the case and the more to worry. His modesty took him to say he was okay. He did not want his students to worry. But I wanted to worry, I wanted the reminder that life is to short not to indulge in your desires. Maybe, I could've gotten rid of the ego and just atleast tried to speak to him on a personal level. Now all I can do is sit in his class and remember all the banter and fun he had with his other students. But this is not about me, this is about him. I congratulate him dying a good man, now a good spirit. I wish nothing but good luck on his journey to heaven. I will think about him.