Happy SATURDAY!!
If you went back to school this week, I hope it was amazing and that you get to rest and recover this weekend. As for me, I am holding onto this weekend for dear life . . . wondering how in the world I’m going to get up at 5am on Monday morning. I get on the treadmill at that time every morning during the week, and almost never ever skip. Steve says its because I’m disciplined, but I’ll have you know it’s because I want to eat ice cream and candy later on in the day.
Three weeks of winter break is absolutely amazing, but then I start to wonder if I’ll know what to do when Monday rolls around, and my kids walk through the door and look at me all expectantly-like. . .
I’m pretty sure I’m all prepped and planned for the day, but honestly, I’m starting to doubt myself . . .
In the meantime, I had a terrific third week off!
One day, I met some friends from school for lunch at 11:30am. We went to Olive Garden where I ate a TON of pasta and bread and, when I finally got home, it was 4:15pm. We were at Olive Garden THE ENTIRE TIME. Our poor waitress! We joked that we were going to ask her to heat up our left overs in our to-go boxes so we could just stay and have dinner there.
We just never have time to TALK. Like SIT and TALK and not get interrupted by bells or other people or meetings or carpool or sports or what-have-you.
Which then got us talking about how some of us get stuck in conversations at school during recess or lunch when we have a BILLION things to do, and others of don’t.
I don’t get stuck.
Or, I should say, I RARELY get stuck.
That’s because I’m a WALKER TALKER.
I coined this phrase when I was talking about this on Instagram, and I’m keeping it.
I’ve been trying to teach my teammate how to be a Walker Talker for quite awhile now and, although she has made lots of progress, she hasn’t mastered it yet.
Here’s what I mean when I say I’m a WALKER TALKER.
I walk and talk AT THE SAME TIME.
I KNOW!
WHO KNEW?!
According to my Instagram poll, 88% us are, in fact, Walker Talkers. And that’s only the people who took my poll and it’s not scientific at all, and I don’t have hard numbers for you, nor do I even like numbers, so for this post, let’s just go with it as A PROVEN POLL BASED ON TEACHERS EVERYWHERE.
So.
88% of us are Walker Talkers meaning we do NOT stop to have a full-length conversation during our break times. We do not have time for that.
WHO HAS TIME FOR THAT?
For example, during recess, I’ll head up to the lounge, and if I come across a person, I say hi, how are you, I love that sweater, your hair looks pretty today, but I never stop walking because I AM ON A MISSION.
A MISSION CALLED . . . GET IT ALL DONE SO YOU CAN GO HOME BEFORE IT’S DARK AND HAVE A LIFE OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL. FOR THE LOVE OF PETE AND ALL OF HIS BROTHERS, YOU HAVE BEEN TEACHING THE SAME GRADE FOR 23 YEARS, HOW DO YOU NOT HAVE IT ALL TOGETHER BY NOW?
That’s me. Talking to myself. As I’m walking.
When I get into the lounge, there are always people around. It’s very rare to go into our staff lounge and find it empty. We have three different recess times, three different lunch blocks, and about 50 staff members who are NOT regular ole teachers, as in, 30 or so of us have our own self contained classroom where it is just one of us and at least 25 children that we are responsible for all by ourselves. The other 50+ adults on campus are office staff, supervisors, lunch ladies, student aides, Speech teachers, psychologists, etc etc etc.
So as I walkveryfast through the lounge, I smile and nod, and I say hi, how are you, love your shoes, that sweater looks so cozy, oh my gosh your lunch smells so good, what is that? AS I WALK.
The key is TO KEEP WALKING.
By the way, I say YOUR LUNCH SMELLS GOOD often. I have lunch envy on the daily.
I make copies, I turn stuff into the office, I might check my mailbox, but the entire goal of MY fifteen minute recess is to USE THE RESTROOM.
I mean, I’ve been holding it THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
Someone in my Direct Messages on Instagram wrote the hashtag #ineedtopeebrenda and I DIED LAUGHING.
EXACTLY.
I don’t know who this Brenda person is BUT COME ON ALREADY. Stop talking to us about every little thing that we can’t talk about right now because I have repeated four words in my head so I’ll remember what it is I need to do during recess AND YOU ARE INTERRUPTING MY MEMORY.
Band-aids, 100 Mile Club, Sally, Bathroom!
Band-aids, 100 Mile Club, Sally, Bathroom!
Band-aids, 100 Mile Club, Sal –
And then I lose my train of thought because #brenda wants to tell me about her diet or the party favors or the new sandwich at Subway.
These are all make-believe situations BUT DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I AM TRYING TO SAY?!
I want to talk to you.
Believe me.
I LOVE TO TALK. Ask my family (ask my brother – he gives me the hardest time about it), ask Steve, ask anyone, I LOVE IT.
I love to tell good stories, too. Give me an audience and I’ll tell you a story about something.
But not at recess. And most likely, not at lunch.
Unless we’re at Olive Garden and we know there is no bell about to ring!
Another thing . . . I’m your girl. If you need me, I’m there. You need help, you need advice, you need someone to listen while you vent, come get me.
But how much can we really dive into your issue during the fifteen minutes we get to make copies, use the restroom, talk to admin about something, ask the secretary something, file something, ETC ETC ETC.
So we need to MAKE TIME FOR THE IMPORTANT STUFF.
Trust me. I believe in relationships and friendships and I want to be a good friend.
But I also need to pee.
Thank you.
So I’m a WALKER TALKER.
For the sake of my bladder, that’s just who I am.
Are you?
Are you a Walker Talker . . . or are you #brenda?
PS Brenda is actually my mother in law but the #brenda in this story is FICTIONAL.
PPS if we work together, I’m not talking about YOU.
🙂 🙂 🙂