Teaching eighth grade as a pandemic approaches creates certain challenges, especially when a girl passes out in the bathroom and a local high school closes for disinfection.
Thirty Greenville County School District employees wearing gloves and masks started to clean Mauldin High School from the top down last night and will continue to disinfect desks, lockers, doors and bathrooms throughout the day today after up to 18 of 70 students who had attended a band camp at Disney World last week reported flu-like symptoms which led the district to close the school today. (Greenville Times)
Students come running into the classroom, desperate not to touch anything but the bottles of hand sanitizer that they’re most eagerly sharing amongst themselves. They sit down and put their hands in the air as if they’re being held up at gun point. They open doors with their feet and they laughingly refuse to touch the copies of Much Ado About Nothing we’ve been using in class.
A quick look around the room confirms my suspicions: I won’t be able to accomplish anything without dealing with this first. A quick review of how viruses are spread. “You can’t get it from simply touching a desk, even if an infected person has just touched it,” I say. “If you touch that contaminated desk then rub your eyes, pick your nose, and dig something from between your teeth, you might get it.”
It truly satisfied few, but at least there was some semblence of calm afterwards.
Arvo Part
Estonian composer Arvo Part’s Lamentate is magical for writing. Listen to “Solitudine, Stato D’Animo” — few things I’ve heard in recent years are as calming.
06-part_-lamentate-solitudine-sta
Do you feel as if you’re floating?
Often, when L and I arrive home, we take a snack together. An eternal favorite is apple slices with a light spread of peanut butter and a shared glass of milk.
I don’t know how we began sitting on the floor, but we do now consistently — even when it’s a Saturday afternoon snack.
I hold the the apple; L spreads the peanut butter. The cooperation is a blessing: she often insists on doing everything herself, and that can lead to frustration.
She also cleans up messes. Occasionally, the mess is bigger after she completes the task, but in the case of peanut butter on a finger, she does an thorough job.
Sunday morning, before church, there was some twirling and dancing in the back yard. I was there with a camera, of course.
For a brief moment, I look at this photo and think I can imagine what she’ll look like ten years from now. Every few months, I catch a moment that seems to be speaking from the future. “Prepare yourself, Tata,” she says in those moments. “I’m not going to be a toddler for long.”
Definitely not, but she’ll certainly be a dancer. She dances endlessly, tirelessly.
“All kids at this age like dancing and music,” says the lady at day care.
“Yes, but you don’t understand,” I want to say. “She dances more than any other person I’ve ever encountered.”
But I don’t say it. She’s probably already heard it a million times.
A busy weekend. L’s confirmed cat allergy necessitated the re-thinking of our cat situation. She how sleeps in the basement. (The cat does, not L.) Part of the solution involved a cat door, but where to put it? Simple: in the basement window. That involved creating a framed enclosure for the door — yesterday’s project. There’s still a shelf to be built on the outside portion as it’s too high for convenient entry.
Sunday was planting day. Squash and melons. The squash looks heartier than the melons. In fact, the melons, while healthy, look almost miniature compared the the hefty squash plants. Don’t worry, melon — you’ll catch up and surpass your neighbor in our improvised front garden.
The day ended with another first for L — her first train ride. With beautiful weather and a jolly conductor, we were certain it was going to be a big hit.
L sat waiting, watching the train make a circuit and excitedly talking about getting on the train.
Once she boarded with K, though, it was a different story
It’s something we should have expected, for it happens often enough. We could have prepared her: it usually helps if she knows what she’s expecting.
Still, the swinging, running, sliding, jumping, and general frolicing undid the anxiety.
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