Saturday, January 7, 2012

Week In Review

It's finally Saturday, and I'm so glad. I can't think of any way to describe this week without invoking any number of clichés: a whirlwind, no time to take a breath, a series of unfortunate events.

First, we failed to check the January calendar, and therefore did not realize that Mac had a second week of Winter Break. This created a massive childcare problem, obviously - a problem I solved one day by hiring a girl I'd never met (the best friend of a colleague's daughter) to watch Mac for eight hours. Oh well! She seemed nice!

Also, I still had the respiratory illness I've had for many days. I finally decided to go to the doctor and get an antibiotic after the time one of my senior colleagues stopped in for an impromtu observation, and I had to leave the class due to a massive, choking coughing fit, during which tears streamed from my eyes and I gasped instructions for finding and discussing metaphors.

Next, Mac had his admissions testing at my school, and while he eventually cooperated, he spent the first ten minutes of the interview producing guttural wails and clinging to my legs.

Finally, I spent days in agony over the faculty-student basketball game. "You should really play," said one colleague. She insinuated that I would be seen as a stick-in-the-mud if I did not take the floor. "Yeah," said another. "The students really like to see you out there." Finally, I called Rachel and left a desperate message. She called back:

"Kace, under no circumstances should you be playing basketball. This will only harm you AND the students."

I appreciated her candor, and in the end, I chose dignity. I feel good about that choice.

3 comments:

LH said...

Rachel is right on the money with her response. Just because I work for a school does NOT mean I have to play volleyball against students every year!

KC said...

Say it, Sister! I'm so glad I didn't play.

jdoc said...

It feels good to say no.