Let’s table this issue until the carpet is cleaned
I entered my San Benito High School classroom on Monday for the first time in about two months and it felt like I had left it about two days ago.
So goes summer vacation for a teacher. We are fortunate, for sure, to have the option not to do anything from early June through mid-August and still get paid, but many of us have to keep working – even parttime – to make ends meet. That time sure goes by quickly.
When I leave on summer break, I choose to focus on the word break and stay completely away from my classroom until I am required to return in August. Between coaching baseball and writing for The Pinnacle three days a week, it turned from June to August in the blink of an eye.
Upon entering my classroom, I was a bit surprised to see the eight long tables and 38 chairs piled on top of each other at the back of the room. I quickly realized it was because the maintenance staff had been there to do the annual cleaning of the carpet, so I didn’t mind the mess.
For some odd reason, my incoming freshman son said “Sure” when I asked him if he’d help me organize my room that afternoon, so after I recovered from the fainting spell, I brought him to campus and put him to work. I think he agreed because he is anxious to begin his high school career, and this was a way of getting a preview of what is to come.
As I went through piles of last year’s papers to recycle what I could and organize the rest, my helper son cleaned the 24 computer screens and wiped down tabletops for dear old Dad, who had just bought lunch as an extra incentive. This is the same kid who thinks his bed is made if the pillows are sitting in the general area of the headboard, so I took what I could get.
The eight big tables have to weigh about 60 pounds each, so it took the two of us a little while to flip them right side up and move – well, drag – them into position around the room. Just before doing this, we placed 22 of the 38 chairs in place along the sides of the room in front of the computers, taking the time to wipe down the plastic ones and unfold the metal ones. The whole process, to that point, took more than an hour.
As we prepared to place the final three big tables, my back and bad knee feeling the strain from the lifting, a maintenance man walked by my open door and said, “I’ll be cleaning your carpet this week, so you don’t have to move the tables yet.”
It was like his words became a boxer’s glove that swiftly and brutally delivered a mighty blow to my gut, in slow motion, on a cold day, after I had just eaten Thanksgiving dinner.
“You…don’t…have…to…move…the…tables…yet.” It echoed in my brain again as my son and I looked at each other in desperation. Dude, I thought, we already moved the tables! Aaaaah!
“Uh, OK,” I murmured with a smile, trying my best to sound upbeat in front of my well-intentioned colleague. “We’ll put them back.”
My 14-year-old gave me the “Are you kidding me?” look and I just shrugged and reminded him how lucky we were not to have put all eight of the 60-pound tables out yet.
He remained good natured about it as we shared a laugh about our predicament.
“This counts as our workout for the day,” I said as we put things back in disorder.
The good news is that my son and I spent a quality afternoon together and I got most of my room ready for the start of school next week. I also got my workout in and I was reminded that a high school classroom is a place where every day is different and unexpected challenges are the norm.
I’ll miss summer with its occasional lazy days and no requirements to lift crazy-heavy tables. School’s back, though, and come Monday all eight of my tables will be in just the right place on top of a sparkling clean carpet. And if my back is healed by then, I’ll be raring to go.
Adam Breen writes a blog at http://thebreenblog.blogspot.com and teaches newspaper and yearbook classes at San Benito High School. He is a reporter for The Pinnacle and former editor of The Free Lance.
