A Sad Day

I just heard that an old friend and colleague passed away last night. Pat was a fellow teacher and she even spent a year or two teaching kindergarten with me. She was fun and funny and kind and an advocate for kids.
We shared a student named R. He was always in trouble and came to me in first grade with a reputation of misbehavior and uncooperativeness. His mom left him that year with his blind father. R was a handful but there was something about him that I just loved. In second grade, he had Pat. She loved him too. We were probably the only two who ever cut him a break and enjoyed him, warts and all. She told me a couple of years ago that she had seen him and he was doing well. He even hugged her.
Our school building was old and every spring we would get a mouse infestation. For some reason, they always turned up in Pat's classroom. They were so bold that they just came out and ran over the kids' feet. She taught across the hall from me and I could hear her kids screaming. It was pretty funny so we made an old box into a "Mouse Hotel" and presented it to her.
She was always positive and looked at the good side of life. Her house had a terrible fire a few years ago and she and her husband had to live in an apartment for a while. Awful, right? Not for Pat. She told me that she was enjoying apartment living. It was different and she was having some new experiences.
Her house was beautiful. After they moved in(the first time) I went over and did some decorative painting. I was glad to be able to do something for her and I loved her for appreciating my creative side. I think the painting got wrecked in the fire and the insurance guy said that must have been expensive and she told him IT WAS!!! I laughed right out loud when she told me that.
I can see her laughing face in my mind's eye. I can hear her voice. My heart breaks for her family but I am glad her suffering is at an end. God bless you, Pat. You will be missed.