Call Of Duty

I was much more perky during my second (and final) night of Parent/Teacher Conferences.  I still didn't have any visitors.  But, since the fifth grade was in session, I had a class to teach so an hour of the time was filled.  And it was such a nice, warm, sunny day!  Why, I even had the windows open in order that I might feel the fresh breezes wafting through the stale classroom!

Which is why this conversation befuddled me beyond all belief:

Fellow Teacher Who Doesn't Fully Appreciate My Obsession With The Weather:  My God, what a day!!!  And I'm totally wiped out after the conferences last night.  I guess I'm sort of hoping for tomorrow to be a snow day.

Ms. Sheep:  Oh, you silly billy!  I don't think we are going to call off school for two inches of snow.  You'll just have to find a way to muddle through.  Have you tried opening a window?  Or eating fewer onions?  It's worked wonders for my overall disposition!

FTWDFAMOWTW:  Um...you might want to take another gander at the forecast.  There's been a little "change" over the last few hours.

MS:  (logging onto her favorite news channel's website and clicking the "weather" tab)  I'm sure that you are mistaken.  Let me just see here...oh fiddlesticks!!!!!!!

Well, that may not have been exactly what I said.  But it was close to that.  In my defense, I had all these fresh breezes blowing around me and was a little high on the scents of spring.  The idea of another 8 inches of snow would be enough to put anyone into a tailspin at that point.

But, you can't argue with Doppler Radar.  So, I bade a hasty farewell to my colleague, fortified myself with a Peanut Butter Cup from the secret teacher stash and set about my duties as the self-appointed Crier Of Doom.  I went from room to room, office to office and, wherever I found an unoccupied person, explained in sepulchral tones of the impending snow assault.  I also informed people who were maybe a little bit occupied and if you happened to try and call the school today but couldn't get through it's maybe because the secretary was busy checking the 37 weather widgets on her computer's desktop.  

That was her own choice.  I just report the news, I don't control what people do with it.

With my Weather Brain in full gear, I took my "dinner" break at a sensible hour (3:30) in order that I might hasten myself to a local purveyor of foodstuffs and stock up on frozen pepperoni pizza.  (My principal excused me for this, but was shaking his head sort of sadly when he did so.  I get the feeling that he worries about me being left to my own devices sometimes.  I probably shouldn't have told him that I was panicking about being out of frozen pizza...)  Since I teach on the Maine/New Hampshire border, this meant traveling across state lines and purchasing some of that exotic pizza from afar.  But, it was a risk I was willing to take to ensure that I remain fed during these hours of crisis.  I made it back to the school in time to make the Snow Alert Rounds for a second time and catch the people I missed earlier and who remained unaware of the peril in which we are living.  

This took up the remainder of my afternoon and, before I knew it, my six hours of conference time were up!  I was really quite exhausted.  It is not easy to be the one upon whom such responsibility falls.  Yet, I take my role in the school seriously.  I may not have any parents who come to conference with me.   But, I hold my head high knowing that I hold a special place in the hearts of my co-workers.  Without me, they might have gone home tonight without stopping to get their frozen New Hampshire pizza.  

Something occurred to me when I arrived home, though.  Sure, I had the pizza.  I also had some cat food and paper towels.  And cookies.  You can't have a snowstorm without cookies.  But it seems that, with all my rushing around sharing the snow news, I forgot to do any knitting.

Maybe I'll have a little extra time tomorrow.  Our district still has one more snow day we haven't used yet...

SA