School's out

My mom and two other teachers at her school are calling it quits this month, so some of their co-workers reserved tables at an Italian restaurant and threw a party in their honor. My brother, his wife, and their little girl drove up from San Diego to OC. My sister, her husband, Wendy, and I made the the trip from Los Angeles as well, and of course our dad was there.

It was a gorgeous, sunny day, and it's easy to hang out with teachers because part of their description job is to be pleasant--at least in the primary grades. The best part was when three other K-3 instructors performed a song for mom. Her name is Sing Wong, so they based it on "Sing a Song" from Sesame Street. It was really sweet and funny, and it was prefaced by all sorts of gushing about how great it was for them to work for her.

One of the speeches said something to the effect of how these teachers dedicated 30-plus years to helping others, and now they're going to enjoy themselves.

It's true. I have a high-school reunion coming up and I'm not sure that I'm going. It's super expensive, and last time I went no one had anything interesting to say. My brother and I tried to top each other's answers for an hour or two ("I live in a trailer in Modesto" and "I'm a oil-rig firefighter") and then left early to see the Peechees at Jabberjaw. We saw tons of friends there, and it was one of the best shows ever.

At the end of the night, we were glad our lives didn't peak out in high school. Nonetheless, we wondered if we wouldn't have been more affected by the reunion if our teachers had been there, too... You'd think they'd let them in free, but maybe they wouldn't want to attend anyway. They've served us plenty.