Your text has brought back memories. I am a teacher and my mother was a teacher for over twenty years. In fact, she was my first grade teacher and one of the main inspirations for my professional performance.
My mother was one of the best teachers I ever knew, and I still remember when I was in line for my reading lesson. Even though I had learned to read at home, and she knew it better than anyone else, she never exempted me from the line or the lesson. She wore her teacher's hat. To the eye of a child, it is difficult to tell the difference.
Many years later I remember her teaching and I think she still teaches me lessons from her loving memory. She is dead, but she is still alive in me, and in the way I interact with my students.
Thank you for sharing your experiences and reflections