Rain, Rain, Go Away

Now, I don’t know how or when y’all learned that little tune BUT I learned it when I was in 1st grade, in Room 16 with Ms. Rodriguez. And that’s relevant because singing the tune reminded me of Ms Rodriguez. She was always so nice to me and always had a smile on her face when I saw her. She instilled the love of math in me and, on rainy days, sat with me to ~play~ a game of “beat the clock”, in which she essentially gave me a bunch of math problems and I would try to solve them all in under a minute. She also took me, my sisters, and a classmate to watch “The Iron Giant” at the theater – which was the first time I went to a theater btw.

Ms. Rodriguez passed away because of Covid complications. One of the school volunteers had symptoms of Covid, but still showed up to “help” Ms. Rodriguez. Ms. Rodriguez was immunocompromised and at high risk for Covid so she ended up in the hospital and was in a coma for a few days before passing. When my mom told me about her passing, it got me thinking about all of those she left behind – her family, friends, colleagues, and all of the students whose lives she touched. It also left me with the following questions I’ve been asking myself: