Tags
Afternoon delight, General Conference, Happiness, John Rohn, Life, Life of a teacher, North Philly, ordinary, Philly's finest
I never thought that today would turn out to be anything but ordinary. It just goes to show that no one really knows when the unordinary will shatter the routine of the usual. I woke up early this morning as usual. I listened to a General Conference talk on my commute as usual. Everything about today seemed usual. Rushing to finish my PowerPoint in time for class as usual. Last minute copies as usual. Kids being kids… as usual. Even the Friday excitement of the forthcoming weekend has become somewhat… well… usual.
The day continued fairly uneventful until just 1 hour before the usual 4 PM end-of-a-work-day sigh. Tired of battling my students, I was relieved to receive a phone call from the head of operations telling me that he was sending a substitute to my room. I was needed in the front office. It wasn’t until the click of the receiver that I realized how unusual his request. Was I in trouble? Had I said something to merit an angry parent to visit the school? Well, no time to think about that now because Nadjah and Stephan are starting to create quite a stir bickering back and forth in the front of the class. The next five minutes was quite a blur as another teacher and dean removed the students from class, I documented the incident and gave the remaining students an impromptu assignment. The head of ops showed up just in time to witness the tail end of the slight chaos. In a flash my class was transferred into the substitutes hands and I was walking to the main office. “Am I in trouble?” I asked. “Your car was broken into and the police are waiting for you downstairs to file the report.”
The usual smashed by the unexpected. Isn’t life exciting?
Now to answer your questions… the culprit was caught and all of my items returned. A real lose-lose situation if you think about it. He will go to jail and I will most likely lose my insurance deductible. Although, there is some good news to this situation. My colleague now has a wicked cool story to tell about how he chased down the guy breaking into my car. He cornered the thief, forcing him to jump in a dumpster before the cops arrived. Also, I will most likely get a couple of days off from teaching because I will be summoned to court to testify. This sounds crazy but I’m kind of excited for the experience. I’ve never really been involved with our legal system before and I’m curious to know more about how it works. I also have another great story to tell about my time spent in the police station this afternoon. Too bad that will have to wait for another day… Philly cops at their finest.
I’m okay… life is good. Welcome to North Philly.
“Happiness is not by chance but by choice”.
-Jom Rohn
