For the past few weeks, my husband’s back has been disagreeable. He has been in much pain and walking causes him much more pain. Stairs are very painful so we put our extra bed downstairs for him.
Anyway, last night I drove him up to the school to prepare for at least a couple more days of having a substitute. He is really concerned about those kids “getting behind.” While we were there, Brian put us to work on pencils. He handed me a whole box of (mostly sharpened, in my humble opinion) pencils to be sharpened and laid in the box all facing the same way. I mean, what good teacher could let a first grader waste time on a substitute day sharpening a pencil? And they must all face the same way because . . . you don’t want a first grader poked with a pencil first thing in the morning. According to Brian, it makes them cry and that’s not how anyone wants to start his day. Samuel helped with this. New pencils first got pre-sharpened in the old pencil sharpener before being re-sharpened in the new pencil sharpener.
Then, we added erasers to the eraser bin by taking a utility knife and cutting them into thirds. (Don’t worry parent. If you think buying 80 pencils for the school year was a little much, he makes up for it in erasers. And besides, we usually still buy your kids a few pencils. It might be obsessive sharpening – I don’t know.) Finally, we added notebook paper (3 packs of it) to his paper bin. No notebooks – the little papers left over when you rip it out really annoy him. Did I mention he’s the most laid back guy I know?
Anyway, we get home and I get a little angry with my kids teacher. I mean, this teacher’s major accomplishment of the day was to get a memory foam layer added to her husband’s bed. She wasn’t even sure where all her students’ books were (let alone pencils) since several had left the classroom yesterday with her children when she “took the day off” to take her husband to the doctor.
After I get over it and cry on my husband’s shoulder, I take a little time to relocate all the students’ books (except for one) and all teacher’s editions (the things a mother has to do). As I am going up to bed, Brian asks, “Do you have your pencils sharpened for tomorrow?”
“I would have,” I said, “but I couldn’t find them.”
“There’s a bunch of them over their on the table by the pencil sharpener.”
He would know – Mr. I’ve Been Lying in Bed for Over Three Weeks.
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This morning I was so excited to get up, I did a front flip first thing. I’m athletic like that you know. I was voted “Most Likely to Succeed” but I should have been voted “Most Athletic.”
So the alarm sounds this morning, and when I reached to turn it off – I missed. I landed mostly on the back of my head with my body above me caught by the wall. I let out a little scream and hoped Brian would not race up the stairs concerned about me. I tried to figure out how to get myself out of this awkward position without screaming for help. I remind myself that I’ll be 36 next week, not 63. As I’m getting up, I’m thinking, “The kids must have moved that nightstand,” but once I’m all the way up I have to admit that everything was in the right place except for me. . .(well, and the pencils and about a thousand other things).
Lord, my prayer to you today is that you make Brian’s back better really quick, “I really need him to man the alarm clock.”**
* I wrote this the first week of September. Brian is doing much better. Praise God!
**We took a walk together tonight and he’s been manning the alarm clock for several weeks. I have no excuse for why my pencil cup is again. . .EMPTY. But alas, I have the weekend to gather and sharpen pencils. J
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