The Forest for the Trees

I was groggy this morning as I made my mercifully short commute to school. There was a tiny bit of frost on the windshield and a chill in the air, and I knew I was a few minutes later than I wanted to be, so I wasn't prepared at all when the huge white pick-up truck in front of me came to a dead stop. I stomped on my brake pedal with everything I had and prayed the rear view mirror was clear. There couldn't have been more than inch between my bumper and his when I lurched to a stop, but his gesture did not communicate relief as he continued on his way.

Everything that had been on my backseat was now on the floor, and my twenty-ounce hotjo of coffee was buried in the avalanche. The next turn was onto a residential street, and I impatiently pulled to the curb. Cussing, I opened the rear door and picked up my gym bag and book bag, repacked my entire lunch, and looked around for my coffee. After a moment, I saw that the cup had been thrown into the well beneath the driver's seat where it now lay on its side completely drained. My fists clenched.

I was livid for the remaining two minutes it took to get to school, and my disposition didn't improve when I saw that the kids were already entering the building when I got there. Not only would there be no caffeine for me this morning, but the car was probably going to smell like coffee forever, and I was going to have to scramble to get my copies made before class. I roughly grabbed my things and stomped toward the entrance, but as I went around the front of my car, I paused. It was undamaged and so was I.

From across the parking lot, one of my students called to me and waved, and I smiled and waved back.

(Click here for today's sample of my 6th grade students' response to the 2011 SOLSC challenge.)