Okay, One AM. Well, One Twelve AM and counting. It may be One Thirty by the time I smoke and actually bunker down to write. I smell a skunk outside, and it is somehow enchantingly summoning. Dirty skunks, like the dirty skunk weed we smelled the entire way to the coast, or like the skunk we almost ran over on the way home (the guy in front of us hit it first). Skunk, like the way my Stella Artois smelled when it was warm at nine in the morning on the beach. Skunk, black and white, like a memory of good and not so good things, permeating, perverse, and prevailant.
This, then, is about things that linger, whether good or bad. Things that prevail in the long term... like the smell of a skunk. Eventually you get used to it; The things that make you think at One or Two in the morning. This is about life, as it is. This is about Napa, after a day away.
I loved being away. I was so excited. I planned and requested days off to match Bens, I woke up early after working and going to bed late. I did good stuff and took the movies back to the Redbox before we left. I took Nate to school and got quarters to do the laundry we needed. I met with Garrett's teacher to get his homework we needed, as arranged.
STOP. Yeps, I met with Garrett's teacher before school on Wednesday (as arranged), to get the work Garrett would miss while away for two days. We turned in the previous homework and got new books and spoke with the teacher and signed permission slips........ and wow. What a conundrum. After all, I had missed our meeting on Friday afternoon.
Okay, so granted, I missed it and did not call to let her know. She was waiting for us. She called and left a "short" message with Ben, as well as with me. However, I had a twelve-top at Morimoto, and there was no school that day. Garrett sat in the PDR and had family meal and played gameboy while I worked on the floor. Ben was working his 15 hour day. The meeting that we had planned two weeks before was the last thing on my mind. I just wanted to make it through the day with no school and no day care. Great that she got the day off to meet with parents. I did not. I had to work, and it was important that I was there. So important, as a fact, that Garrett had to sit there and wait for me in the back room.
Monday morning and he has to go to school... what to expect? He has to follow all the rules. I have laundry and another appointment too. :) I rhyme:). So, I send him off and call right away. Dear Mrs. Todd, I am super sorry, let's reschedule. By the way, Garrett is leaving and will be gone on Wednesday and Thursday. No problem, we will meet you on Wednesday AM, before we leave town. See you at Seven thirty AM. Cool. I get that you have to get to work early to meet, and I will be there (I am getting up early too, duh).
Meeting. Garrett seems super afraid of his teacher, and I am, quite frankly, a little nervous as well. She tells him to grab his card and then questions his about his card and whether he remembers where it is. Then, looking over his homework, she notices he missed the bottom page of one of the math sheets. "Garrett, you missed this. Big FROWN drawn on the top." Okay... so he missed a couple problems. No biggie.
"Do you know you, as a parent, should look over this before he turns it in?"
Okay, lady. I came here to meet with you... Yes, I care. I get it. "I sit with him and do his homework each night that I can, Mrs. Todd". "You aren't supposed to do his homework for him."
Okay, so Garrett is apparently nervous, and Mrs. Todd thinks I do his homework for him. Got it. Thanks, Mrs. Todd, we will see you on Friday!
As we are walking out, she says, "Oh, yes, I have a permission slip for you to sign. If you were here at the conference, you would have had it." Got it, I will sign it and say thank you again.
"One last thing, when you are going to be gone, we require another paper to be signed. And you know, I won't tell you how to live your life, but the School District really frowns upon things like this."
Oh Mrs. Todd. You are lucky I am going to walk out this door and forget each moment of this meeting, because I am going on Vacation and I will not let you ruin my day. Nor will I allow you to make my seven year old son nervous because the school district is losing money over his two days gone.
Oh well.
In my mind, just so you know, I am formulating each and every thought I have about the school district, the school, the principal, the cafeteria, the credentials, your teaching style, the kids in class and their learning style, as well as what is expected of 2nd graders around the globe in the next three days. Top that with the knowledge i am gaining of acceptable math and reading comprehention scores that are necessary for stars testing and funding for schools in California, and you can expect I will be ready for our conference on Monday afternoon.
I am looking forward to it, and am hoping we can have intelligible conversation regaurding what is expected of my Seven Year Old Son Garrett this Year.
Sincerely, Melissa.
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