In which Jessica nearly makes an ass of herself!

When I woke up this morning to the cozy sound of rain falling on the roof (I say cozy because I was tucked comfortably into my bed, warm, dreamy, half awake) I panicked a bit. On a good day it would be hard getting my students to turn up in a different location. On a rainy day in our same location it would be hard to get my student to show up… Today, on this lovely rainy day, I am having my students meet me in the Library. Frick!! Frick, frick, frick. I rolled over and sighed loudly, hoping it was enough to wake Jake up so I could vent my concerns. I sighed again, even more loudly. Finally, I kneed him in the side (I know, I’m awful!)
By the time I got in to the office, later than I wanted, I was in a fowl mood. I’m wet, I’m tired, I’m anxious, and to top it all off I’m wearing shoes that pinch my toes and rub my heals!
“Those students better not fuck with me today” I say to Angie as I shake the rain out of my clothes.
I pull myself together. I write a lovely note for my classroom door reminding my students to meet me in the library and I head over (all the while my feet are screaming obscenities to me).
8:46: Two students are already waiting. Wonderful! One is still finishing her homework due in 15 minutes, I decide to let it slide (as long as it is done by 9:00).
8:55: There are six, wet, tired students. I’m clinging to a persona I want to kick in the balls today: “It’s so wonderful you all are here. We’re going to have a great class today and you will all be so much more prepared than your fellow classmates”. Blah, blah blah. Roses and rainbows and unicorns. SHUT UP!
9:00: 11 out of 22 students. I lead the way to our reserved room.
9:10: 5 more students trickle in while I am going over our Agenda for the day.
9:11: A very rude man comes barging in telling me I need to move, this room is by reservation only. I calmly explain that, “Well, sir, I did reserve this room.” He waves his had in my face that I must be confused he has this room reserved for a conference. My students start giggling. I hold firm and tell him he can take this concern to the front desk downstairs, I have a class to conduct. I then turn my back to him and continue talking to the class. I really wanted to tell that guy where I thought he could stick his concerns and attitude (and it had nothing to do with the information desk downstairs). Some of my students nod approvingly that I was able to turn this angry man away. I get a few arm pumps and smiles. I never hear from angry man again, so I figure the front desk explained things to him or told him where to stick it!
9:15: 3 more students wander in wet, wide eyed and extremely apologetic. I hand them the papers I am going over without a word or a smile and keep talking to entire time. They know I’m not pleased, I can tell by the way they slump in their chairs.
9:20: We are heading out the door to find the magazines and copiers. Another student arrives. I thrust papers at him and continue walking.
9:30: Student are busy looking for magazines and finding advertisements. Extremely late student comes up to talk to me. I brace myself to stand firm. My frustrations are bubbling right on the surface.
Student: “Miss Kander. I’m real sorry I’m late today”. He looks very distressed
Me: “Yeah, you were 20 minutes late today.” I raise my eyebrows and refuse to be sympathetic. “What’s the deal?”
Student: “My roommate had a seizure this morning” I can see tears start to well up.
Oh god, I am the queen bitch of the world. I melt. I ask what happened. I ask how he is doing. I ask how his roommate is doing. I want to tell him (but don’t) that this is totally one of those times that it would have been okay to miss class. I commend him for coming to class. I listen as I talks about what happened. I tell him to find a friend to talk to or call someone from home, it sounds like he might need some support right now.
Wow! Suddenly my frustrations were wiped away. The rain stopped carrying a mocking tone. I was able to see outside myself again, to see my students as the people, the young men and young women that they are. I was reminded of what it is that I really love about this job…and I did all this on a miserable rainy day!