When I was a
young man, free of familial encumbrances and responsibilities, life ran at a
different pace. I did what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it.
You could easily say my world revolved around me. It was a happy
place.
Fast forward 10
years, one wife and four children later, life looks a little different.
As much as I would still like the world to revolve around me, sadly, it
does not. Today, for example, I went to our children's school 3 times.
Normally, twice is a lot. I drop off two of my four children there
in the morning for what I have been assured is an excellent education and well
worth the East Wing I did not know I was sponsoring.
However, today was not the usual Fun Friday where the week happily ends and the weekend happily begins. After drop-off, I merrily went on my way and got some exercise. I then found myself in my trusty vehicle driving down 14th Street when the phone rings. It is the school. My eldest daughter Demi had gotten sick and needed to be rescued. Not a problem. I was close.
When a child is sick and needs to go home, it means one thing and one thing only- throw up. Few things are worse to a child, or an adult for that matter. About the only thing that is worse than actually throwing up, is doing it in public in front of your class. I distinctly remember the day in chapel in first grade when Warner Bonner threw up all over his Lovett shirt, leaned forward so he could see around the children between us, and said, "Strib, look what I just did." I think he was proud of it. Girls do not share that same sense of pride. I also remember when a young lady who shall remain nameless, threw up on the floor right in the middle of our classroom. From that day forth I could not look her in the eyes, and we were in school together for the next 10 years. I avoided that place in the classroom for the rest of second grade. These things can be scarring, and are remembered vividly for at least 30 years. Poor Demi. I just hope she has the personality to get her friends to look beyond it. If not, she is going to have a long and laborious tenure at HPS.
However, today was not the usual Fun Friday where the week happily ends and the weekend happily begins. After drop-off, I merrily went on my way and got some exercise. I then found myself in my trusty vehicle driving down 14th Street when the phone rings. It is the school. My eldest daughter Demi had gotten sick and needed to be rescued. Not a problem. I was close.
When a child is sick and needs to go home, it means one thing and one thing only- throw up. Few things are worse to a child, or an adult for that matter. About the only thing that is worse than actually throwing up, is doing it in public in front of your class. I distinctly remember the day in chapel in first grade when Warner Bonner threw up all over his Lovett shirt, leaned forward so he could see around the children between us, and said, "Strib, look what I just did." I think he was proud of it. Girls do not share that same sense of pride. I also remember when a young lady who shall remain nameless, threw up on the floor right in the middle of our classroom. From that day forth I could not look her in the eyes, and we were in school together for the next 10 years. I avoided that place in the classroom for the rest of second grade. These things can be scarring, and are remembered vividly for at least 30 years. Poor Demi. I just hope she has the personality to get her friends to look beyond it. If not, she is going to have a long and laborious tenure at HPS.
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