Germs, Kids, and Dreams

This semester, well the last 5-6 months, I've learned how fast germs can spread. Never in my life have I been so sick so frequently, but this semester it seems like we can't go 2 weeks without getting some form of the crud in this house. I guess that's what you get when your roommate works with 15ish 3 year old germwads, and I work with 100 different germ carriers...and those are just the kids we come in direct contact with. That's not even considering the door knobs we share with our fellow workers, which adds 115^whatever power. I hate germs. But don't wash your hands too much to prevent them, because you'll still get it. And if you don't - you'll get dry hands.

Driving two runs during one shift has taught me the importance of giving the kids a clean slate, and not carrying over frustrations from one group to the next. Today my 50 1&2nd graders were out of control. I had no aide (which is required for only this particular group of kids who are evacuees from Hurricane Katrina, all living at South Gate)...so I had my whistle blowing and loud mean voice on. Finally I decided as we were about to leave - I'll turn on the radio for them! When they would get out of their seats, I'd turn it down. There were some moments (two to be exact) where I looked back at them singing and dancing (in their seats) and thought, even though they're loud, they're cute.

2 seconds later when I had to turn it down, a girl demanding me to turn it up made me snap back to reality and realize...ahh, brats. I had forgotten!! Needless to say, the radio is a privilege that was short lived.

Then on my second run, as I was sitting at a stop sign in Pebble Creek, the front half of the bus started chanting: "right! right! right!" Normally I go left, and I'm pretty strict and sticking to the plan when I'm on the bus, but the instant I turned right there was an uproar of excitement and cheers. Something so small made their afternoon. I finished up the route with a smile on my face...thank goodness I had a short memory and didn't hold the 2nd run accountable to the trouble the 1st run gave me.

And finally, after watching the olympics (short track has always been a fave but lately I've enjoyed my new favorite sport: snowboard cross!!!!) I think I would have done some type of snowboarding/skiing/hockey sport if I lived up north. Some of these announcers are talking about this women's hockey team, and when they are just raving about a girl, I've said (out loud) "that's what they'd be saying about me if I lived up north!"

Ahhh dreams. Well that's it for today. Just a bunch of mambo jumbo I thought I'd throw your way. A nice little gumbo (minus the okra I couldn't figure out how to make this evening).

db