My math teacher always made me feel small, and I never understood why. One day, while looking through my school’s 1989 yearbook, I noticed a class photo with my teacher at 16. She was wearing the same jacket my mom had—a unique piece with my mom’s initials. I remembered my mom had attended this school, likely a year ahead of my teacher. As I kept looking, I found a photo of them holding hands, gazing at each other in a way that seemed more than friendly. I never suspected my mom had a past relationship with a woman.
I kept the discovery to myself until graduation, when my mom turned pale upon seeing my teacher. The teacher smiled and handed me a note: “Ask her.” That night, my mom tearfully admitted that my teacher had been her first love, but they had broken up after her parents found out. Though my mom met my dad later, she confessed that my teacher had always been her true love.”