Clubbing
My wife and I are getting up there. Last night, at 8 p.m., we admitted that what we really truly wanted was to just go to bed. I'm 60, a two time cancer survivor, and in remission from leukemia. I feel like I'm always tired and always cold. I have turned into one of those women who sneak over to the thermostat to adjust it to "take the chill off" the air.
T has been off work all Summer and just started back teaching school. She left the teaching life for several years to try her hand at the corporate world and found it lacking. She missed teaching. She had taught for decades at one of the poorest high schools in our district and missed "her kids." So, she looked for a new teaching gig and found one. This one is in a much wealthier area. She is going from a school with an 87% reduced lunch to one with an 8% one. At her old school, we regularly bought four Winter coats a year. T would come home and tell me that it was killing her to see kids walking to school with blue lips and no coats. We'd be off to Target that night. We bought more gloves and hats than I could ever count. Her new school has no such problem. On her first day back, she noted that there was a kid in the office asking the secretary if she had change for a 100 dollar bill.
Also, her old school was filled with older, seasoned teachers. Many new teachers were not eager to teach at a low income school that went into lock down every few months. Her new school is full of brand spanking new teachers.
"I swear that they all look about 15 years old," she said as we talked after her first day back.
A different atmosphere. Yet, she says...kids are kids. She'll make her way.
It may be the teachers that she has to get used to.
At a teacher's meeting, a young teacher announced that they all had to sign up to chaperone at least two school dances for at least an hour. The first dance was this weekend. A "parking lot" dance, a "welcome back to school" dance. It would go from 7-10.
T said that she would do the 7-8 shift. The sign up teacher dimpled.
"Great!" she said. "7 to 8, right?"
"Right," T told her. "I plan to go clubbing after 8."
It was a joke. Went right over her head.
The teacher smiled broadly at her. "Cool!" she said. "No prob!"
T sighed as she told me this.
"She really thought that I was going to go out clubbing," she said, tiredly.
I patted her, as I closed the drapes, getting ready for bed. It wasn't even dark out yet.
"You'll make friends," I told her, hopefully.
Hopefully.....
T has been off work all Summer and just started back teaching school. She left the teaching life for several years to try her hand at the corporate world and found it lacking. She missed teaching. She had taught for decades at one of the poorest high schools in our district and missed "her kids." So, she looked for a new teaching gig and found one. This one is in a much wealthier area. She is going from a school with an 87% reduced lunch to one with an 8% one. At her old school, we regularly bought four Winter coats a year. T would come home and tell me that it was killing her to see kids walking to school with blue lips and no coats. We'd be off to Target that night. We bought more gloves and hats than I could ever count. Her new school has no such problem. On her first day back, she noted that there was a kid in the office asking the secretary if she had change for a 100 dollar bill.
Also, her old school was filled with older, seasoned teachers. Many new teachers were not eager to teach at a low income school that went into lock down every few months. Her new school is full of brand spanking new teachers.
"I swear that they all look about 15 years old," she said as we talked after her first day back.
A different atmosphere. Yet, she says...kids are kids. She'll make her way.
It may be the teachers that she has to get used to.
At a teacher's meeting, a young teacher announced that they all had to sign up to chaperone at least two school dances for at least an hour. The first dance was this weekend. A "parking lot" dance, a "welcome back to school" dance. It would go from 7-10.
T said that she would do the 7-8 shift. The sign up teacher dimpled.
"Great!" she said. "7 to 8, right?"
"Right," T told her. "I plan to go clubbing after 8."
It was a joke. Went right over her head.
The teacher smiled broadly at her. "Cool!" she said. "No prob!"
T sighed as she told me this.
"She really thought that I was going to go out clubbing," she said, tiredly.
I patted her, as I closed the drapes, getting ready for bed. It wasn't even dark out yet.
"You'll make friends," I told her, hopefully.
Hopefully.....
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