That Teacher Who Forgets the Words and Trips Over Her Own Feet

I am a full-grown adult, educated too, yet I live in a world where teens are in charge. It’s a marvelous place, full of quick wit and salty venom. They scoff at everything they’re told yet love with reckless abandon. I would not trade my life as an eighth grade teacher, it is exactly who I am supposed to be.

As the universe would have it though, sometimes our best laid plans are detoured. When that happens it’s easy to throw your hands up and decide it’s not meant to be. There is another option though, the one I chose. Take a peek at the new route, turn the music up even louder and grab a snack (or two) for the road-trip ahead!

People tend to think that there must be something wrong with anyone willing to spend countless hours with middle school students (with little monetary compensation). Surely us saints that knowingly go to college with the sole intent of teaching THOSE kids have some sort of brain damage. Well, actually, I do. I am the proud recipient of one of the wackiest and nearly impossible to explain autoimmune diseases, Multiple Sclerosis (MS for short). As I write, “proud recipient”, I shiver a bit…and then smile big.

You see, I spent years coming to terms with this diagnosis in near secrecy. I only told those who absolutely needed to know and even then downplayed flaring…