Some of my colleagues have confessed to me that they are not in love with Parent-Teacher interviews because they often can't get the families they really need to meet to come in. I can agree with that sentiment, but I really enjoy what has become affectionately coined "Meet the Creature" night. I love being able to "connect the dots" with the parents and children because it gives me a much greater insight into how to effectively interact with my students. I'm pleased to tell you that, while I didn't get to meet the parents are REALLY needed to see, I had a wonderful visit with each that was able to make it.
That's not the crazy part, though. I decided to stay at school instead of going home and filled the time in by taking some action shots of the two boy's football teams and the girl's basketball team that were hosting opponents. As a reward for making it to my final P.T.I. I decided that a large Tim's was in order so off to the nearest Tim Horton's I go. I'm in the drive through and there's a purple Soul (really doesn't matter to the story) ahead of me waiting for the car at the ordering microphone to finish when a small Mazda comes roaring up from the other direction and proceeds to stick his nose in and cut off the car in front of me, narrowly missing the front fender. The Soul gave the young man driving the Mazda a beep or three of the horn, to which, the window was rolled down and a 20-something male started hurling profanity-laced insults are the driver of the Soul. At this point, the window of the Soul comes down and loud, albeit less verbally repulsive, retorts are offered. This goes on for a little until the Mazda's driver side opens and a left leg comes out ... At this point I'm unbuckling my seat belt in case something goes down ... when POW the Soul's door flies open, a 30-something lady catapults herself across the lot and pops the young man right in the beak! WOWSERS! To my surprise, the young man can't get back in the car fast enough and is frantically rolling up the window. The lady is now pulling a Gramma and shaking her finger in his direction. Eventually, she tires of him and returns to her car while he has rolled the window down a crack and continues to (safely) hurl profanity in her direction. I'm dying from laughter and cheering her on when the passenger side of the Mazda opens and a teenage girl gets out and approaches the Soul. Curious to see what she'll do, I'm surprised to see her tap gently on the window and begin to (what I can readily tell from body language) apologize for her friend's (boyfriend's?) ignorance. She eventually returns to the Mazda, all the while "Tough Guy" is still verbally belching excrement from a cracked driver-side window.
The whole thing happened so fast and I was belly-laughing so hard that I completely forgot to record the escapades ... I could have made some $$$ from YouTube for sure ... but I am reminded of a social media post I have seen multiple times of an incident between a group of elderly ladies and a young man somewhere in the southern states and features "Mother Goose" using an umbrella to make her point -- Have a listen https://youtu.be/Yj-6nJCQYdo
When I finally got to the window to get my coffee, the poor young girl inside the Tim's was smiling an shaking her head. As I reached for my coffee I said, "Man, tough night in the drive through!" and she started chuckling that they had heard the whole thing through their headsets and they were busted up about it because the Mazda wanted them to call the police but they couldn't stop laughing ... which of course pissed him off even more.
All of that was the curtain raiser to the actual interviews, and I have to say that I had a pleasant evening of well wishes from the parents that came since many of them knew that I was retiring in January. I even made it out to some post-interview libations with 10 of my colleagues where my story was followed up with a near-miss when two feuding families with kids who attend our school almost came to blows in the hallway. Was there a full moon? Who knows ... All I know is that I'm THREE months, TWO sets of reports, ONE holiday break and ONE last set of exams from becoming a man of leisure ... You know what? I will miss all of this, of that I'm sure!
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