Friday, January 28, 2011

The Great Diversion

Scene: Standing in the hallway during a transition time. Students and teachers are all around. A girl I worked with in reading groups for awhile in October came up to greet me.

girl: "Remember me?"

me: {Obviously. A little loud, but super sweet. How could I forget?} Yes.

girl: "Did you have Andy yet? Because I really want to see a picture of him."

me: {Oh crap. Here we go. And right in front of another teacher who clearly knows the story. Looks around for a diversion. Oh great, got one.} Yeah, um, I noticed you're wearing a Polish dance t-shirt. I didn't know you were taking Polish dance lessons! {second graders are easy to distract-- thinks of shiny objects or talking about anything relating to themselves}

girl: Oh yes. Yada Yada Yada.

me: {Phew. Dodged a bullet there.}
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Story #2, same day. Today.


Scene: Walking a student to Bus #4 and a line full of kids following.

girl: Hey, I remember you! Did you have the baby?

me: {Here we go again. Bummer. She's not wearing a Polish dance t-shirt} Yep. {diverts eyes}

boy: Are you still working in the library?

me: {Oh thank goodness for this kid. What the heck is he talking about? I don't care.} Um, yeah, maybe.

3 comments:

Katie Truelove said... [Reply to comment]

I'm so impressed that you have been able to face these situations even though it must be dreaded. Kids can be so brutally honest sometimes and it is hard to expose yourself to these possibilities. Very brave Mrs. Wilson.

Erin Farrell Speer said... [Reply to comment]

Way to face the little guys - fortunately for you they are so easily distracted! :) Hang in there, and keep a-working!

B's Mom said... [Reply to comment]

The same thing happened to me after my loss. I dreaded that the kids would ask, and how I would explain it to them. All I could do was handle each question as it came, and thankfully they never wanted to see a picture of her.

Hugs to you on your path to healing.