Thursday, Oct. 23, 2003 - 8:51 am
Um... I'm sorry.
This relationship just isn't working for me.
I'm at www.dailypreciousness.org now. So change that bookmark.
Today is progress report day. Parents, nervously biting their lips, jangling their keys in their pockets and running (late) to meet with their children's teachers, are coming in for parent-teacher conferences. It's fun to watch. And there are some really interesting Dads rushing by my window.
Miss Cleo is alive and well. She's part of *my* psychic friends network now (sorry, Dionne). Her current alias is "Patience Opossum" and she works in the cafeteria of my building.
Still speaking in her Jersey/Jamaican accent, she has a broad, gap-toothed smile and an endearing manner. She shuffles around the kitchen with great efficiency and always speaks in a loud voice to overcome the thunderous white noise of the industrial appliances.
"Helloo, Mista Breedee!" She calls out to me as I rush to and from the men's restroom. (This school was built when male teachers were very rare, so the building lacked a men's restroom. The kitchen staff's restroom was switched to a men's restroom. It's the *most* inconvenient place to visit, especially around lunch, when I have to struggle upstream like a desperate salmon!)
The journey is arduous; many children block the way. Many small feet must be tread upon so that I may unleash the forces of the overfilled bladder.
At least Patience is bubbly and friendly enough to make the journey enjoyable. She always has a friendly word or a smile. And the scents from her kitchen are uniformly delicious. I appreciate having her on staff.
She's great. And beyond the obvious joy I get out of her drag queen-esque name, I enjoy her bright and warm presence and her positive energy.
In addition to Patience, I am also blessed with Grace. The other virtuous lady in my life is named Grace Witt. She's from Barbados and also has a very bubbly presence. She's my IT person.
We are neighbors and she's always coming by for professional chats about procedures and methods. And we share responsibilities with instructional technology assistance to teachers. (Luckily, our teachers seem pretty savvy so far... no one's needed my help.)
When I went to a librarians meeting a few weeks back, a woman approached me and introduced herself. "You share Grace," the supervisor commented. Without any context, I thought that perhaps this colleague and I simply shared one of the virtues -- I didn't realize that she meant Grace the person. It was only a few seconds later, when the woman asked, "Isn't grace wonderful," that I realized she didn't mean anything divine -- she just meant Grace Witt.
So these are my two new virtues... my two new wonderful coworkers that I'm having a great time with right now.
So that's my progress report for today.
