Winding up the school year

Today at lunch, I participated in a end-of-year celebration with the school staff where I've been working since December. We all were treated to lunch at the Texas Roadhouse. Very yummy. Nice company.

Just a tiny little embarrassing incident. Why, oh, why does this happen to me?

We had salad with all kinds of goodness on it, drinks, peanuts, warm bread while waiting for our choice of chicken or steak to arrive. The food came. We swapped stories and enjoyed the camaraderie.

And a piece of steak got stuck in my throat. Not Heimlich Maneuver stuck. No, just swallowing stuck. As in have-to-cough-it-up or get-it-down stuck. I could still breath, but the pressure in my throat was intense as I tried to look and act normal while the ladies around me talked and laughed. It's happened before. I think it's a hernia problem. Mostly, I just sit still for a while, and maybe walk around and the food goes down and all is right with the world again. Other times, I've had to make a quick exit to upchuck the renegade piece of food. This time, it all came up in one quick messy glob of saliva and phlegm all over what was left of my lunch and on the table and in my hand and on my seat and lap. Uh-huh. Right there in front of everyone. I was mortified! Simply mortified.

I wasn't so much worried about Kelly and Jenna sitting across from me. After all, we spent the better part of our lunch time each school day talking about poop consistency, regularity, vomit, snot and ear wax. No, it was the poor teacher next to me who doesn't have to deal with that kind of stuff on a regular basis, who didn't finish her own lunch after I threw up all over mine. She said that it was no problem, that she wasn't bothered, but still . . . Sigh!

This just goes with the whole way I've been wrapping up the school year.

On Friday, the last day of school, we (Kelly and I -- Jenna was at the State Special Olympics) wore our "WII Rock" T-shirts. The administration has been pushing for good test scores and attendance with a drawing for a WII and for shirts with "WII Rock" on them. All the teachers and staff got them, too. Only we all thought it would be pretty funny for the end of the year to cross out the first part of "WII", leaving just the "I Rock". Kind of catchy, right?

Except for the part where I passed the principal in the hallway.

She was not pleased. It did not honor school spirit and she said she would appreciate it if I would take off the offending X covering the rest of "WII Rock".

I did, quickly, and was completely mortified that I'd just gotten into trouble by the principal. A person who I hope will someday give me a good recommendation for a teaching job. Oh, the humanity of it all!

On the brighter side, after lunch I took myself off to get a haircut, with hopes of getting something sassy for the summer. I love it! It's always nice to get someone who knows what they're doing when cutting hair. She lifted hair in all directions and snipped and cut like crazy to give me a nice cut that will be perfect for summer time. And it will also ease my poor wounded humiliated spirit!