Possumblog

AND THEN...

...ran back upstairs and wiped myself down with my nasty shirt after stripping it off, shucked my sweaty jeans, wiped off some more (right now I imagine you're getting the grotesque, but accurate, idea that I didn't have time to shower beforehand, but trust me, I DID wipe off a lot) and then put on a nice heavy shirt and a clean pair of jeans and a pair of shoes, so as not to perpetuate the stereotype of slow-talking shoeless Southerners. Although I must confess, the car detailing was carried out in an unshod state.

Rubbed down my head, and put on my Barber Motorsports cap for a nice bright touch, down the stairs, into the van (didn't want to risk rubbing off any of the blacking before it was completely baked) then off to Grandma's with several minutes to spare!

Got there, got the kid, hit the road to the school.

Wow. I haven't been by since the end of school, and the place is covered up with new portable buildings to handle the influx of students. Ten over on the primary side, four over on the intermediate side. They look terrible, but I have a feeling that they won't be there as long as the modulars were at the old elementary school. Those were pretty much permanent portables. Parked, walked in, followed the handy taped-off route to the gym, and HALLELUJAH! CHAIRS! We got there about twenty minutes before time, and for the first time this year, the staff had put some aluminum folding chairs out in the corridor for people to sit in while they waited. THANK YOU!

Sat there for a while, talked to Catherine, who saw one of her friends but who wanted to see another one. Looked at the artwork on the wall. The school is covered with nice pictures and photos donated by folks in the community. The particular set in front of me were some of those single-word motivational posters. I might decide to donate some of these to the school, just as a way to bring some snarky adult-style fun to the place.

At the appointed hour, we all stood up like paratroopers moving to the jump door and shuffled into the gym to the first table, where they check to make sure you actually do live in the district, then on to the table where they give you your supply list and your teacher, then over to the place where you pay your fees, where I sat down and chatted with the nice lady and SAW THE BRECK GIRL MOM!

Boy, it's been a long time--if you recall, her kids played soccer, which is where I first saw her, and then I found out later she teaches at the elementary school. She has quite possibly the most attractive strawberry blonde hair in the entire world, along with that well-scrubbed All-American look, thus her nickname. What a cutie. Where were women like this when I was in school!? Not that I would have cared then, but surely it would have been better than old hatchet-faced women who dipped snuff!

Paid my money, moved on to the school tee-shirt table (fund raiser, I suppose, but at least with this one, the stuff you get looks good), then to the agenda book table where I got to see ANOTHER one of my favorites, Jonathan and Rebecca's 4th grade teacher. This is the girl whose class I visited to read Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel when Jonathan was her student. I love her to pieces, mainly because she never fails to tell me how much she enjoyed teaching my kids. She was disappointed she didn't get Catherine--I think she thought she was going into the 4th grade instead of the 3rd. However, she might be in for a rude awakening should she actually get her next year.

Checked the bus schedule, then out the door. Fifteen minutes.

Cat was worried a bit about her class being in one of the modular buildings, and wasn't quite sure of the whole concept of a building outside the REAL building, so I drove her around the backside of the parking lot so she could see both sets of construction. That seemed to satisfy her, at least at the time, although she did mention it again to Mommy last night. It'll be okay. I hope.

Back toward Grandmom's, with a stop at our house so I could drop the mail off and her registration stuff--I didn't want it left at Granny's. I also wanted her to see the sparkling black molding on the Volvo, with which she was HIGHLY impressed.

THEN, to the in-law's, where I had some time to kill. Went back over Jonathan and Rebecca's paperwork, got them to sign it, watched Kim Possible on the TV (another cute redhead, I might add), and then packed up Boy and Middle Girl and off we were to the OTHER school, this time with plenty of time to spare.

Which turned out not to be such a great idea...

Posted by Terry Oglesby at July 29, 2005 10:02 AM