If there’s one woman I’ll think about every single day of my life, it’s Sister Josefina.
She was the one who taught me spelling. She also taught typing, Spanish, and writing. And she was in charge of our classroom. She had a way of sitting—always straight, always calm. She never crossed her legs because “that’s not how young ladies sit.” Her hands rested gently on her knees, one touching the other, like she had practiced being still.
She even taught us how to turn the page of a book without letting go of it. That kind of detail mattered to her. And now it matters to me too.
Sister Josefina liked me. A lot. She said I was smart. She wanted me to stay focused and not let other girls influence me too much. But of course… first came Laura Blanco, then Majita Melo, and then others. The path wasn’t exactly smooth. Bad influences, good fun. You know how it goes. (Yes, sorry friends—but it’s true.)
Even so, she forgave me for not being perfectly behaved. Her only rule for me was simple: I had to stay in the top five of the class. That was her way of keeping me on track.
Not long ago, I found out she died. I immediately saw her in my mind—her perfect skin, her long fingers, her beautiful cursive handwriting. She looked like someone who never rushed, never forgot a detail.
And still, every day, I hear her voice in my head. Especially when I don’t know if a word needs an accent. Suddenly, she’s there, giving me the answer. Calm, patient, exact.
Funny how memory works. We tend to think we remember facts. But what we actually remember best is emotion. That’s how the brain decides what to keep and what to let fade. Emotion works like a highlighter—it tells the brain, this matters, keep it close.
There’s even a small part of the brain called the amygdala—tiny, almond-shaped—that lights up when we feel something strongly. And when that happens, it sends a signal to our memory system saying, “Hold on to this.” That’s why a spelling rule from age ten can stick with you forever—if the right person made you feel seen when you learned it.
To my beloved Hermana Josefina