Mrs. Rita had worked in six different schools in eight years. She has never stayed in one school for too long.
At first, people thought she was looking for a better job, but they later found out that, that wasn't really the reason.
She simply doesn't like staying in one place for too long.
Once she becomes too familiar with a place, she would start thinking about leaving.
Her friends didn't understand her too, "You just started working here,” they would tell her.
She would laugh and tell them she will soon move, and she usually did.
She has worked in schools in Aba, Owerri and Port Harcourt. Every time she leaves a particular job, she would promise herself that the next school will be different.
Then she got a job in a small primary school. It wasn't really a big school.
The classrooms were old, and whenever it rained heavily, water sometimes entered through the windows, but the children were lively.
Mrs Rita was given Basic Three. Among the pupils was a quiet boy called Daniel.
Daniel hardly spoke in class, he was always at the back of the classroom, and his books were usually untidy.
At first, Mrs Rita thought he was simply not serious with his studies. But one afternoon, she called him after class.
“Daniel, why don't you pay attention in class?”
The boy looked at the floor, "I don't understand some things, ma.”
“Then you should ask questions.”
He nodded.
From that day, Rita started paying more attention to him.
She discovered that Daniel was not dull. He was simply a boy who was always afraid of answering questions because other pupils sometimes laughed when he got the answers wrong.
Mrs Rita started encouraging him.
“Don't be afraid to make mistakes.” She would always tell him.
Slowly, Daniel Started picking up, his performance started improving. He started raising his hand in class, started doing his homework and his writing also improved.
One afternoon, he came to Mrs Rita with a test paper.
“See my score, ma.” he scored 82%.
Mrs Rita smiled, "That's very good. Keep it up." She encouraged him.
Daniel smiled too and was very happy.
After that, he became very attached to her. He would wait for her every morning,sometimes, he would help her carry her books to the staff room.
Mrs Rita didn't mind, and for the first time in years, she was beginning to enjoy staying in one place.
Then, after almost two years, she got tired. The school wasn't paying much, and the building still had problems.
Some of the teachers complained too much, so she started looking for another job.
When she finally got one, she decided to leave. She went ahead to tell the headmistress.
“I've accepted another job.”
The woman looked surprised.
“You're leaving?”
“Yes ma"
“When?”
“Next week.”
The news quickly spread among the teachers.
Daniel also heard about it.
The following morning, he came to her desk. "Ma, is it true that you are leaving?”
She looked at him.
“Yes.”
“Why?” he asked
“I got another job.”
Daniel became quiet.
“Will you come back?” he added
Mrs Rita gave a little smile, "I don't know.”
He looked down at his shoes and his face felt sad.
The next morning, Mrs Rita found a small folded piece of paper on her desk.
She opened it, it was a short note from Daniel.
“Thank you for not giving up on me.” She read it twice, then she kept the paper in her bag.
On her last day, the pupils gathered around her before she left, some were crying and Daniel was among them.
He hugged her and said, “I don't want you to go.”
Mrs Rita didn't know what to say.
She had left schools before, usually, she didn't look back.
But this time it was different.
As she walked out of the school gate, she realised that she had spent years trying not to get attached to places.
She thought leaving quickly would make life easier, maybe it did, but she also missed something.
She had missed seeing children grow, She missed building friendships with other teachers, she missed becoming part of a place.
Her friend once told her that, “A rolling stone gathers no moss.”
She always thought the saying meant that moving around was a good thing.
Now she understood that there was another side to it. That a stone that keeps rolling may remain clean, but it also doesn't give anything time to grow around it.
She stopped at the gate and looked back at the school, and for the first time, she wasn't happy about leaving.
She still went to the new school though but things were different.
This time, she didn't start planning her exit on the first day. She decided to stay.
Not because the school she got was perfect, or because everything would always be easy. But because she had finally understood that sometimes, staying long enough to build something can be just as important as moving on.
Image source is Gemini ai