You're Having Too Much Fun!

Work has been a bit of a downer recently. There has been constant talk of budget cuts and cutting of positions at school. Everyone is on pins and needles most of the time.

Well.....when things get like that Kathy (my co-worker) and I get really silly. Today was one of those days.

The elementary school is in the middle of their yearly March Reading Program. The school does all kinds of really neat things to get the kids enthused about reading.

We do DEAR (Drop Everything And Read). We had an assembly put on by our Remedial Reading team to kick off the month of reading. They put on a nice show. They get staff members to do silly things, but everything the school does in the next month concentrates on getting our primary grades interested and enthused about Reading.

The Kindergarten students planted seeds and passed them out to all the staff members this week. The slogan for this year is "Plant a Seed...Read." Kathy and I received our little, tiny seedlings that had popped up out of the soil in a dixie-type cup. I sit right next to the window, so I put mine on the window sill. Kathy put her seedling on her desk, which gets no natural sunlight.

The school psychologist (who can be a very funny man) looked at my seedling this morning and said, "What a nice little seedling. He seems to be doing very well. Am I to understand that this particular seedling belongs to you?" I told him that indeed it was mine. He asked me where Kathy's seedling was. I told him, "In the dark, over there on her desk."

The psychologist, with an exorbitant amount of flair, skipped over to Kathy's desk and squeaked, "What are you doing? Your little guy (which I assumed was his name for her seedling) is going to die! He's in the dark!"

Kathy replied, "I'm not very good with plants. They always die!"

He replied, "Kathy, stick him in the sun. STICK HIM IN THE SUN!"

Kathy laughed and said, "We'll see."

The psychologist went on his merry way, mumbling something about cruelty to plants.

Well, the really silly part came when we were nearing the end of the day. Everyone is watching the clock like a hawk waiting for those last few minutes to tick away. I'm busily trying to finish up some last minute paperwork at my desk when suddenly Kathy picks up her little guy (which, now, I'm calling her seedling), calmly with out a smirk or grin, walks over near my desk, stretches out her arm with the 'little guy' in her hand towards the window and says, "There you go!"

She promptly turns around with the 'little guy' in her hand, walks back and places him on her desk.

I'm still looking at her and wondering, What? When she turns around she says, "You can tell Mr. R (the psychologist) the next time you see him that my 'little guy' got some sun."

Okay, now I'm practically rolling on the floor. She's still got a perfectly straight face, no grin, smile, or smirk. My boss walks out and thinks I've totally lost it from all the stress. She's looking at me as if to say, "Are you okay?" I'm laughing so hard, I can barely speak.

So, Kathy pipes up with, "I gave my 'little guy' some sun." Now my boss really thinks we've both lost it. She said, "You guys are having too much fun!" Then she shrugs her shoulders and walks away.

Now you have to understand that Kathy has a nickname for everyone. Sometimes people are aware of Kathy's nicknames for them, sometimes they aren't. Our principal knows that Kathy calls him "Big Chief Rain Cloud." He's called Big Chief Rain Cloud, because with all the bad news regarding budget cuts and jobs being cut back, she said he's the bearer of all bad news, which makes him Big Chief Rain Cloud. He's always raining on everyone's parade, so to speak.

Her name for me is "Lightening", because my last name sounds a lot like "Lightening." Her name for herself is "Thunder", because while I may be Lightening, she's the noise maker, which is Thunder.

After my boss departed from the room, Kathy smiles, lovingly looks down at her 'little guy' and says, "Well, I got you a little sun today. Tomorrow I'll have Big Chief Rain Cloud stand over you and you'll get watered."