George and Gracie Moment

I have a student in my homeroom who is developmentally a bit behind her sixth grade peers. Every morning she bursts into the room and with a huge sigh proclaims, "Phew! I made it!" panting all the way over to her seat, even though she is there several minutes before the bell.

Despite my daily reassurance that she is on time, the mini-drama repeats every morning with little variation, as it did this morning.

"It's okay," I said. "You are right on time! Great job!"

But today there was more. Her eyes grew wide. "I was almost late because we had to take Grandma to the airport," she reported breathlessly. "She had to go home to Minnesota."

Having spent so much time in that state recently myself, I asked her, "Do you know where your grandma lives in in Minnesota?"

"No," she answered. "Where?"

A Little Sting

The Birchmere is much more organized than the last time I was there. The club is general admission, and for shows starting at 7:30 the box office and bar open at 5. Ticket holders receive a first-come-first-served number like at a bakery or deli counter. At 6 when the doors to the venue open, people are allowed to claim their seats only when their numbers are called.

But what about the tickets? you may ask. Patrons present their electronic tickets to be scanned after surrendering their number, but before entering the hall. This system was entirely new to me, but I felt like Heidi and I were navigating it all pretty well until they called our number and I showed them my barcode. "That's one ticket," the door guy said. "Where's the other one?"

"Uh," I answered, and he briskly directed us to the side where two young men I had not noticed earlier stood.

As I fumbled with my phone, they suggested that Heidi go ahead in and get our seats. Their kindness did not make me any less flustered as I swiped and tapped my phone screen desperately trying to remember where I had retrieved that one ticket from before adding it to my wallet for convenience.

But the guy who helped me was very patient, adopting a tone I have often used myself when directing students through a necessary but way too-complicated process on their iPads. Open Safari, I don't see the tab, open a new one, go to Ticketmaster, log in, hit skip, tap my tickets, swipe over, there it is, and with a quick little beep he scanned it with his own phone and I was on my way.

But not before I gave him a high five, mostly just to slap the feeling of being old right out of myself.

All the Fall

Many Saturday mornings you can find me puttering in the kitchen:sipping coffee, listening to the news, cooking breakfast, and baking vegan muffins for Heidi to take in her lunch. That hasn't been so for a couple of months, though. A combination of out of town travel and other commitments has kept me from my Saturday routine since early September.

Back then, autumn was no more than wishful thinking and a few apples at the farmers market. In fact, the last thing I baked was a blueberry coffee cake with a miso streusel.

On the third Saturday of November, though, fall has definitely arrived; our potted plants have been brought in, the wood rack is filled, and the weather is downright chilly. And this morning? I baked pumpkin gingerbread muffins with apples and cranberries.

That's more like it.

Not Today, Children

"Take your hood off, please," I asked a student who came to my room for the after school Anime Club.

"Why?" a friend of his asked with some attitude. "School is over." She looked at me with more than a little defiance.

"Oh yeah?" I said, meeting her gaze. "Then go home."

He took his hood off.

She stayed.

What is Jeopardy?

I like the game; I even tried out for the show, but in truth, I haven't regularly watched Jeopardy in years. I'm usually writing or cooking at that hour, and so the show dropped from my routine.

But, the same was not true for my mother. She was an inveterate fan, even going so far as to record the show on her DVR so that she, and any guest, could watch at their convenience. And we did! In the many days I was fortunate enough to spend with my mom in the last months of her life, we watched Jeopardy together on most of them. Last April we saw James Holzhauer's first victory and in October we saw the waning episodes of his championship in reruns at the hospital. Like so many devotees of the game, my mom was both impressed and dismayed by his dominating, 2 million dollar, buzzsaw reign.

And of course, when I saw that he had made the finals of the Tournament of Champions, along with Francois and Emma, champions I had also watched with my mom, I had to tune in. So tonight? I am multitasking: both typing and calling out my answers, all of them in the form of a question, obviously.

In Negotiation

Call me crazy, but with limited space in our apartment-sized living room, I don’t think a 6 foot tall cat structure should be part of the furniture. Oh, it was me who ordered the monstrosity, but it was Heidi who really wanted such a thing, and I guess I figured with a new, more compact couch and chair, that we could accommodate it. But once we put it together and the cats loved it, the battle lines were drawn.

But really? It is 3 to 1 with an abstention from the dog, so I guess it stays.

For now. 

Invaluable

"Is that Apple Watch worth it?" asked the young cashier at the grocery store next to the gym as I tapped it on the card reader to pay.

I shrugged. "Well, it just did that," I said, "and I use it to track my exercise." I gestured at my workout clothes. "And," I continued thoughtfully, "I'm a teacher, so sometimes it's helpful to be able to check my texts without looking at my phone."

But I had lost him at "teacher".

"Props to you!" he exclaimed. "The most undervalued profession!"

"Thanks," I told him.

"I mean it!" he said. "I am in touch with all my teachers even though I graduated a couple of years ago. They have given me so much! I will never forget them! Thank you for being a teacher!"

I'd say the watch was worth it just for that.