Mr. Holland is Nuts

This is in response to Laura’s “Yeah, Well Enjoy Your Vacation Mr. Holland……...” (see blog below).

All the teachers at my elementary school were so happy to have the summer break arrive. This is what I heard all the women teachers saying in the hallway the last week of school:

“One more week and then everything will be ok!”
“We can do this!”
“Hang in there! Only four and a half more days!”
“Are you looking forward to the summer break as much I am?”
“Oh I so need a break!”
“I am going to Washington D.C. this summer for a couple of weeks to see the sights because my husband makes three times what I do so money’s no object.”
“The kids are drivin’ me nuts!”
“T-Minus four days and counting!”
“My kids aren’t acting normal. They are off the wall. How are your’s behaving?”
“Three and a half more days and we’re home free!”
“I hear you’re going on a cruise. I’m going to France with my husband who makes eight times what I make.”
“Yes we are going on a three week cruise because my husband makes ten times what teachers make. I hope I don’t gain too much weight”
‘I can’t wait to be FREE!!”
“I am SO looking forward to summer! What are you going to do this summer?”
“Two more days!”
“We’re having our house painted this summer. It is going to be so much work watching the paint dry. My husband hired the best paint contractors in town because he makes fifty times what we make. I can’t wait!”
“Hang in there! Only one and a half more days!”
“Whew! Break’s almost here!!”
“Only one more day!”
‘This is it! We made it!” I am so happy!”

The whole thing is disgusting and makes me sick. Well I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. I didn’t get hired for summer school so I am going to worry about money, and I’ll limp around the house with a back that went out on me because I had to move four computers and eighteen hundred pounds of textbooks to get my room ready for the summer. My material for blogs is going to run thin so my writing will degenerate into stupid little stories about seeing kids in the supermarket and they’ll all go like this:
“Hi Mr. R.!
“Oh, hi........you.”
My wife will say, “Who is that?”
I’ll reply, “I don’t know. They look familiar so I guess they are a student at the school.”

I’ll also miss the kids, and I'll look forward to August. Am I nuts or what?”

However, there is a ray of sunshine in this bleak summer of pain and loss. My niece, Laura, and her family are coming to visit.