This is my place where I write about personal and family events that happen in my life, as I try to keep my other blogs, Two Reflective Teachers and Two Writing Teachers, strictly relevant and related to the world of educaton.
As I prepared dinner, I tried to keep my mind on school, students, my book, ideas for slices---anything except my newly licensed 16 year-old driving around dark, damp streets in her quest to find red knee-high socks for her Halloween costume. I had bought her socks the night before, but she had deemed my Walmart purchase too maroon, and she wanted brighter ones. She'd find them, she assured me.
She had already called once to tell me she was heading to a different store since Party City had just sold their last pair. When my phone vibrated again with her face appearing, I answered.
"Mom."
I couldn't interpret her tone, but I paused in my onion chopping.
"You're going to be upset," she said.
I think my heart flipped twice. My legs definitely weakened. "What?" I asked.
"I didn't do well on my biology test."
My heart settled. The blood rushed back. I took a deep breath.
"Cecily," I wanted to yell. "If you ever, ever call me and lead off like that when you're out with my car, I might have to remove all driving privileges for the rest of your life."
Instead, I said, "We'll deal. You scared me. Just get your socks and get home soon for dinner."
We had some good laughs when we (in person) talked about the impact of her call, and maybe her lesson learned was more important than anything she should have learned for that bio test.
Happy Slicing,
