Bruise

Bruises are interesting. They form after some sort of mistake. No one actually "tries" to get a bruise. They stay for days after, reminding you of what went wrong.

Last Monday I had an Alexander type of day. You've read the book. The terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. That was me, Ms. Waggoner's version. I'll start at the beginning.

I woke up and didn't go work out. This gave me a good extra hour of sleep. I got up, and figured that getting ready would be swift and easy. However, I had to wear red for Red Ribbon Week and I couldn't get it to work with what I wanted to wear. I barely made it out the door in time. As I pulled into school, the floodgates of heaven opened on me in my topless jeep. I did my best to cover it up and hurry inside. I was irritated, but trying to remain calm as I began my day. During the morning ten minute reading time, I was drinking my coffee and enjoying the quiet. All of a sudden I heard what sounded like water spilling. Wrong. A child had thrown up across a large portion of the room. I got up and escorted him to the nurse and summoned a janitor.

Do you know those maps that roll up and hang from a chalk board? Well I have those in my classroom and I confess to not knowing how to work them. I pull them down, but cannot for the life of me get the map to roll back up. Of course I needed these particular maps for my social studies lesson. I pulled them down, taught the lesson and attempted to recoil the maps back up. In order to do it, I pulled... and pulled... and pulled.... until a red line appeared that said "STOP." ... so, I pulled some more. Frustration was building inside me, and so I gently tugged a bit more. Without warning, the entire metal rack with map in tow, wound up like a tape measure and jumped off of the hooks connected to the chalkboard. And, came crashing down, landing on my knee. 60 eyeballs stared in amazement as steam came out of my ears. A few rambunctious ones yelled, "OHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" To which I responded with, "SHH! BE QUIET AND SIT DOWN!!"

For those of you who don't know, I share a room with another teacher... and I teach 30 kids at time. I was ending the day with 4 minutes of writing. A lot can happen in 4 minutes. I had just barked orders regarding this 4 minute writing before the bell rang, when my partner came in and asked the kids to pack up because she needed the room.. Steam out the ears.

After school, it was my turn to have the computer, but she was holding a student council meeting. They also used my colored writing paper for "posters" around the school. I left that day, with not much accomplished.

Today is Sunday and I still have a black mushy spot about the size of a quarter on my knee from those darn maps. A reminder that haunts me from the previous Monday.

Today Mark preached on the feeding of the 5000. He talked about having faith. When my granddad got up to say the closing prayer, he told God (and the rest of us) that he called the little boy with the loaves and fish, "that fat boy" because he brought his lunch. "That fat boy" helped a lot of people believe that day. I think of this amazing miracle and am reminded to have faith in what God will do for me. Bruises or no bruises. Even with steam coming out my ears.