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there's a new welcome mat on
the floor right by the door, but i didn't put it there. this
is my new classroom.
i've been hustled away from the
most perfect little hidey hole of a room down at the end of the
200 corridor... and have been thrust into the spotlight in 305.
it's right across from the faculty lounge and right up the stairs
from the north bus corridor. in two days time i have waved to
and been waved at, been verbally greeted and chatted up by more
people than i ever encountered in a full year down in 208. this
would be a good thing if i were an extrovert. still, it's not
really a bad thing... and i am not complaining. and they all
love the welcome mat which was not my idea.
it was liz's idea. she is a brand
new presence, the brand new yearbook advisor, full of enthusiasm,
which is a very good thing. i will be her assistant.
this year's yearbook is a class,
not a club, which meets after school on tuesdays and wednesdays.
it has been determined that the back section of room 305 will
be the yearbook space. this is also a good thing because 305
is the last of the gigantic rooms that once were common at carmel.
and even with the division the room is bigger than some. still...
four rooms in four years... yet... some teachers don't have any
one room to call their own. they float. they push a cart from
here to there and there and there. i get to stay put.
(oh. that funky smell was the
dead mouse in the air conditioner. but now it's gone. god bless
pedro, one of our eternally vigilant maintenance guys.)
so here is the first friday of
the school year. it's a great feeling, like the smell of a new
book... or fine corinthian leather... a little tired and glad
to have a real weekend... but happy most of all to have students
- a great good wheelbarrow full of brand new faces, a hundred
and forty names (counting a senior homeroom) to learn very soon.
classes of new stuff and the old standbys.
still, i miss the summer a bit...
bid it goodbye last weekend with a trip down to mom's, where
we ate and talked and met the new dog - duke, italian greyhound: dog most likely to
become a cat any day now. we let the days vanish too quickly...
as if we had a choice.
good to see mom and meg and pat.
good to see brother mike and sister beth and josh and robin and korie and taylor, nephew
and nieces all in full-throttle teen mode...
now a crew are off in california
to celebrate the wedding of nephew greg and kelly. i am here
because this is the first week of school... and because i don't
fly well... not well at all. greg and kelly are in my thoughts
and prayers as they set out on this grand adventure. may it be
long and loving.
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