Social Butterfly

I had to start putting my social engagements for the Christmas break into my calendar app today. This might be because we are not traveling nor having family visit us this year. But it still felt strange to have so many plans with friends that I had to start a schedule for them, so I won't double book myself or forget about one.

The busy schedule actually started last week. I met co-workers for lunch last Sunday to "pre-funk the last week before the break." We sat around a table for at least two hours laughing and talking about our families, our place of employment, our Christmas plans, and whatever else came up. On Tuesday a different group of co-workers and I went to happy hour after school. Over margaritas these 20-something teachers were *shocked* to find out my age. Apparently, I am one year older than one of my co-worker's parents. She said it was weird to think about the fact that one of her friends is her parents' age. My favorite moment was the hushed comment, "No, you're not that old," followed by the exuberant, "You don't act old!" So now I keep telling them, "I'm so old." Afterall, it's something I say to my students all the time.

When I got to the staff Christmas lunch on Friday, after a meeting that had run long, I was surprised and pleased to see that some of my co-workers had already placed my name card at their table. One of them told me, "We grabbed all the names of the people we wanted to sit with." Does that mean I finally got to sit at the cool kids' table? Because that was never me before.

My co-workers also gave me joy with their thoughtful gift giving. One member of my team always picks similar, but different items for each of us. As I looked at my new socks, I asked my partner teacher to show me the socks she had received. Before she could even respond, I followed it up with, "Mine are better." 

I had to wear them on Friday, for our school's annual caroling competition and indoor snowball fight. They did match my outfit after all.

But the best gifts are always the handwritten cards from students and families.

The gift that made me laugh the most this year came with an assortment of pampering items. I didn't notice anything humorous about it at first. But as my husband was marveling over the fact that fourth graders carried bottles of wine into the school for me, he read the back of the "Bizzy Magic Wand" CBD oil that came with a facial mask, a bath bomb, a bar of fancy soap, and a bottle of wine. Thinking about the fine print coming into the school in the hands of a sweet fourth grader who definitely had no idea what it said made me laugh out loud. But I put some on my sore neck - and I can say it mellowed out my muscles in mere seconds.