Remembered, or not

We went to Hawaii in January. Our trip was two-fold – it got me to my 50th state and it used up our Disney time share points for the year (we have no interest in going to DisneyWorld – it seems to be overfull and has gotten even more ridiculously expensive). We stayed at the Disney resort, Aulani, on Oahu.

In December, I subbed for a couple consecutive days at a middle school and was chatting up my homebase class – totally allowed, not just me wasting time – telling them about our trip to Wales and trip to Hawaii. One girl told me she was going to Aulani in January too – our trips were going to overlap by three days. I told her I would look for her – and wrote myself a note (and packed it!) with her name and dates on it. When we got there, I remembered that she would arrive in 10 days. In ten days, I had completely forgotten. I was sitting by the pool, eating a giant shave ice, when a girl and her mom walked in our general direction. I am not a people watcher. I am pretty much oblivious to people going by (I am interested in others’ interest at people watching. It seems really intrusive to me. I’m not sure what I should be watching for – cute shoes? cute hats? cute kids? Sometimes I notice those. And I say “cute hat” to Keith and he is completely bewildered. “I’m not wearing a hat.” I don’t think he is a people watcher, either).

Anyway, girl going by. My brain is pinging – I actually looked at them because I wonder why I am noticing them. They pass, out of sight, and I hear a LOUD “YOU ARE MY SUBSTITUTE TEACHER!” She came running back to see me, much to her mom’s confusion. This is a case of young brain working so much better. We had never seen each other without masks, so I think it is amazing that at that large resort we crossed paths and she recognized me! Fun.

Today I was back at that school and knew I would have her in homebase again. I wore my Aulani sweatshirt in her honor. We had super weird weather – rain, sleet, snow – today, and buses were late. She was not in class. I told the group that I hoped she showed up with a late bus, because I had seen her in Hawaii and she had recognized me and shouted loudly. They laughed and said they were not surprised. It was reading day today, and the room was super quiet (not my day to tell stories) and when she came in, she shouted, “It’s YOU!” Everybody laughed. Fun again!

A couple hours later, I had the difficult class. It was a really hard class the day before winter break and I ended up needing administrative help. As they filed in, there was no doubt they remembered me – a couple kids asked if the principal was coming, etc. The ringleader came in and started standing on desks and we got into why that was not a good idea…and class started. We corrected the assignment, I gave instructions, I handed out papers, – all while there was a lot of talking (much of it to me, because talking to anyone is better than doing your work, I guess) and about half an hour into class, after multiple clues from other students, the ringleader asked with sudden curiosity, “Are you the teacher who took my phone?” Um, yeah…. I don’t think he is a people watcher, either.