Enveloped In Love

This story took place over two years ago, but it still brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.

My husband was an English teacher at a local high school, also running an afterschool “club” designed to support the LGBT+ students. He ran it through his own choice, not getting paid to run it, and became pretty well liked because of it.

He was coming home from work one afternoon when he was involved in a serious collision with a drunk driver. He was taken to hospital, but ended up passing away from his injuries later that night. I was devastated, and my brother had to be the one to inform the school of his death. The school passed on their condolences and I thought that would be the end of it.

Almost a month later, one of his old colleagues came over to deliver the belongings that my husband had left in his classroom at school. I had completely forgotten about going to collect his things, so I was incredibly grateful to the woman who brought them over. With a box of his things I was also handed a large reusable bag, crammed full of envelopes. Confused, I looked up at the woman and asked what they were. She just smiled and told me it was “a little something from the students.”

After she left, I sat down and opened the envelopes. There were close to 300 envelopes in that bag, and each and everyone one of them contained a handwritten letter from a student about how much they had liked my husband, how his work had helped them, and how he would be missed. There was one larger envelope containing a cheque for just over £1,000, along with another letter explaining that the money had been fundraised by several students after they had learned of my husband’s passing, wanting to support me and our children as a way of saying thank you for all the support he had given them through his running of the club.

I don’t remember how long I cried for, but it still warms my heart to know how much effort teens were willing to put in to help a grieving family that they had never even met. If any of those students are reading this, I want to thank them. They helped me smile during one of the most unbearable moments in my life.

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