A Universal Ideal (Chapter 1)

The Unpublished Life: Post 3 (Ch1 of The Universal Ideal)

 My story begins

My days began at 6am. 6am I woke up, jumped in the shower, walked my dog, Ajax, fed my fish, Finn, made my breakfast and by 8am I was out the door and into my blue Prius. While driving to the school, I would often plug my ipod in and sing very loudly and not to mention very off key. I of course only did this after I was positive that all the windows in my car were shut tightly. Although, once I accidentally left a backseat window wide opened and a line of parents and students heard me singing “I’m too sexy” at the top of my lungs. Once my personal sing-a-thon was over I would park in my spot and walk into the building.

Jefferson Elementary School was a big brick thing that had been built around 1903. It was very old looking, despite all of the computers and additions that it had suffered over the years. When I got to room 218 I was able to feel how truly insignificant my life was. Here I was, someone who could have been a great professor or an athlete but no I was just a fifth grade English teacher. I wasn’t contributing to society. I was merely an overpaid babysitter. It’s not the teaching that I hated it was where I taught that I hated. You see, I taught at an elementary school outside of Boston where parents believed that ten-year-olds should go from class to class, their tiny bodies crushed under the weight of their backpacks.

            When I gave an essay to my kids I hated it as much as they did because it meant that I had to grade 86 papers. When I graded those papers, I’d think. I thought about my life, the economy, the president, and just about everything else. What I’d always go back to is how lonely I was. I thought about what it would be like to come home to only a dog and a fish for the rest of my life. I didn’t like it at all. Being alone scared me more than anything. Being a single woman and an elementary school teacher is harder than one might think. After parent/teacher conferences I come home and make cookies or cupcakes or something of that nature. Even if I didn't eat them the busy work was a nice change of pace.