30DBC - Day Four

Work...why oh why do you make me feel as if I have fun full force at a brick wall, gotten up and then repeated that same process 1,653 times in a row? sigh
Thought it was time to take a break and just do a post from the 30DBC to rest my mind a little bit. you know, before I start running into the brick wall again for a couple more hours.

Day 4 - Your parents
What are we supposed to report here...if we have them? If we like them?

My Dad (AKA Coach) and my Mom (AKA Alice B) are both high school teachers. Actually at the same high school -- have been there for maybe 35 years or so. Alice B teaches AP Calculus, Honors Geometry, Computer Science...basically super smart nerdy stuff. Coach teaches Health and Phys Ed and used to coach the baseball team. Couldn't be more different if they tried. I think if they had known each other in high school they would not have ran in the same circles -- Coach was a baseball player and Alice B was in the band. And even in college, Coach was a baseball player and Alice B was a math major with a physics minor. I didn't play a ton of sports nor am I mathematically inclined -- I spent a large part of my childhood convincing myself I was adopted.

Growing up with Coach and Alice B for parents, I knew I never wanted to BE a teacher because I saw all of the "back end" of things. The grading papers, the lesson planning, the calls and letters from angry parents, basically the total BS that comes with teaching that very few people talk about.

But it is truly amazing to see the impact they have had over the years on all of their students. the students who grow up, go to college and start careers and families and still take time to write a letter to my mom or dad saying how much it meant having them for a teacher or a coach.

It's probably also worth noting that they were(and still are) at the high school that was actually MY high school. I even had my Mom as my teacher for math sophomore year (so, so awkward....not a terrible experience but one that I don't think I would recommend) I would always hear about what a b*tch my mom was (usually by someone who failed one of her tests or got caught cheating) and how awesome my dad was (because he would have "movie weeks" where they just watched inspirational sports movies) But I always felt the need to be a good egg in high school, never really did anything to get in trouble because, well my parents would hear abut it right away. So you really couldn't get away with much of anything. Not that I was dying to be some high school hell raiser anyway.

I've talked at great length in previous posts about getting a love of baseball from Coach. I am still trying to figure out what I got from my Mom. I don't mean that in a bad way....just that it is not apparent to me yet. Maybe one day it will be. Or maybe it is to others and I am just too blind to it, haha. I think maybe I get a certain amount of snarkiness/b*tchiness from her. (HI MOM! in case you are reading this)

It probably goes without saying that having two teachers for parents, we weren't living the high life in a big house or driving nice cars or taking flashy vacations. I still remember summers when their contracts were to be up for negotiation in the fall and that meant no vacation or frivolous things at all over the summer. But they always made sure my brother and I were taken care of. That we always had the "must have" toy under the Christmas tree - often that meant offering "extra credit points" to the first student who could bring them a Pound Puppy or Cabbage Patch Kid. I remember always getting to be whatever I wanted for Halloween, even if that was a "punk rocker" for 3 years in a row. And while other kids may have tales from vacations to tropical destination or even Europe, can many say they have been to every stinking civil war battlefield and president's home within a 300 mile (give or take) radius of Philadelphia?? I can. It comes in handy sometimes when I am watching Jeopardy, so thanks Coach and Alice B!

One big thing I did get from both of them is a very solid work ethic -- which is likely why I put up with so much at work. So with that, I will leave you all and get back to it for a few more hours.