You know what I wish?  I wish when I'd dragged myself to barre class this morning at 8am that I hadn't been working out face-to-face with one of my least favorite students of all time.  Also, I'm pretty sure her mother was there with her. That mother was one my least favorite mothers of all time.
There were three mothers in my old school district who really didn't want to face the overwhelming evidence that their children had cheated.

One of them told me that her child had too close a relationship with Jesus to have cheated.

To another one, I said, "This is a clear case of academic dishonesty, but if the message YOU want to send her is that this behavior is okay, then I'll give her the seven points back."  She wanted the seven points.  "But it seems like you're just doing this to appease me," she said.  "Yes," I confirmed.

The third one, the one I saw this morning, was so disrespectful at conferences that her ex-husband came back later to say he thought I did a really good job with her.  "I know how she is," he explained.  "I used to be married to her."

I'm overwhelming grateful that my own mother, whose birthday it is today, did not engage in this type of apologist behavior.  When we screwed up, we screwed up.  And that was it.  There was no yelling at teachers or asking for academic hearings over a B+.  Thanks, Mom.

Happy birthday!  We miss you!