Tea and Sympathy

I've dutifully taken Tolkein out of the library because I never read the whole hobbit series and perhaps I've missed out. I remember trying to read about those rabbits when I was young and I soon discarded"The Hobbit" with some disgust, but now in Pat Conroy's book, "My Reading Life" he raves about Tolkein.  We'll see; I'll try. I'm not much for fantasy.

It's a tea day here in snowy Hardwick where we taught again despite the snowfall in the early morning that was cementing via freezing rain for the rest of the day.  OK, I'd forgotten about New England being this ridiculous.  I keep waiting for the gods to call all this weather off, but that's not the way it works. 

I do like teaching on snow days, though, oddly enough.  On a regular teaching day, I feel a little bit nervous.  Really.  Try facing a bunch of teenagers pulling at their faces to parody you and you'll see.  There's not a shred of ego left when these kids get done with you.  But on snow days, after my gallant efforts to make it up the hill to school while wipers are angrily pushing away snow in most windows of my car, I figure it's gravy that I make it in at all .  It's a great disappointment to the kids that we do make it in, too.  "Didn't you want to stay home today?" they ask.  "Isn't it dangerous for you to drive?"  Oh yeah...they are full of concern for my well-being.  The alternative to my classes would be going to the sub, who has lockers full of hand cream, every issue of "People" magazine ever printed, sweet things to crunch on, movies, and a cheerful personality.

So, for more ego-busting, have a roomful of 16-year olds asking why you look so peaked, and don't you think you're feeling poorly and need to go home to bed? I must admit, I relax my standards somewhat on these snow days when all the public schools in Massachusetts are out and we are still in operation at private school.  We talk more about stupid stuff, and we look out the window a lot and make dumb comments about whether that's rain coming down now or has it ended completely? It would be best if we could all stand at the window, holding cups of tea and warming our hands, dreamily watching the weather.