My least favorite teacher always gets some thought in December

I was really lucky to have some extraordinary teachers through my education.  But there are exceptions.

When I was in high school, we had an elective called "Economics."  As I recall it was less about economic theory (probably a good thing, at that age) and more about the economy.

Anyway, the teacher who offered the class was extremely popular.   He favored athletes, boys, and the kids who were popular.  This made him unlike a lot of the other faculty, who tended to like students like me who were bright, grade-grubbing, eager to please, and hopelessly nerdy.  Even as I recognized I wasn't his kind of student, I clamored for his attention.  It was pathetic.  I am not even go into how hard I tried to win his approval.  It is both comic and tragic.

It wasn't until I got to college that I looked back on his classes (I took more than one with him, of course) and realized how biased he was, how much of his charm was less about good teaching and more about tapping into things we 16-year-old hormonal brats thought was cool.  I resent him a little, but mostly I'm disgusted with myself for how blind I was and how pitiful my ongoing attempts to impress him truly were.

I occasionally think of him this time of year, thanks to the news.   In his class, he assigned a "term paper" on whatever economic-related topic we chose. I elected "The Economic Impact of Christmas."  He thought it was a lame topic, however, and discouraged me from pursuing it.  He didn't think a bunch of people shopping made for much of an impact.  Nothing worth writing about.  For some stubborn reason I did it anyway.  It was challenging to find articles and data on the topic (this was before the internet age and online magazines and google searches), but the stuff I found was interesting, about shopping and charitable giving and other monetary aspects of the holiday.  Which are, I assure you, substantial.

Nowadays I regularly see loads of data about the economic impact of Christmas, particularly in the news.  NPR was just discussing what the blizzard means for the European economy, given that it hit during typically busy pre-christmas shopping weeks.  The local media has been interviewing stores that do the majority of their yearly business in December.  That kind of thing--lots of it.  I've been seeing it for years.  And every year, I think, You don't know everything, Mr. M.  And I am sorry I wasted any emotional energy on trying to get your attention.  And I am so freaking glad I ran across so few teachers like you in my life.

And to think I've boasted about my flexibility when traveling.

Sunday I was supposed to fly home from CA on a plane departing at 6:45 am.   Alas, the plane had mechanical problems.  That's such a drag, but I give Delta credit for not holding us hostage on the tarmac while we waited to see what could be done.  Some people deplaned, some stayed on.  I hung out on the jetway with a group of passenger and we watched the mechanics come and go.  We talked about the Metrodome roof and other things.  It was not bad.  With such an early start, I figured I'd still be able to make my way home before bedtime.  Several hours later they decided it was a no-go.  Which meant a plane full of people needed rebooking.

That wouldn't have been so bad on a normal day, but apparently Delta was already dealing with a bunch of passengers from Saturday in the midwest who had to be rerouted thanks to lousy weather.  No one could get through to Delta's 800 number, Sacramento was understaffed for such a problem, blah blah.

When I finally got rebooked it was.....for a 10:55 flight to Atlanta.  That's pm.  16 hours after I planned to depart.  UUUUUUUUGH.

So that sucked.  And thanks to a late arrival in Detroit, I'd have to burn part of a vacation day to boot.  While this trip was for work, I'd stayed the weekend for my own purposes.  I was on my own time now. And if travel made me late, that's time I have to count off.

I did not sleep terribly well on the flight, and recall I'd been up at 4:50 am to catch the flight I was meant to be on earlier.  So when I landed in Detroit (2nd plane flight) I was a bit strung out.  So it was quite a blow when I went to pay for parking and learned that, thanks to lousy signage and congenital idiocy on my part, I had parked in the $20 per day structure.

I was stunned.  With Mark in school, our budget doesn't exactly have a lot of wiggle room these days, and the thought that $50 was going to get yanked out of the holiday present fund to go to parking?  Unbearable.  When the kindly gentleman in the ticket booth beheld my trembling lip (and greasy hair and bloodshot, glassy eyes), he suggested I speak to the management office.  To get there,  I had to back out of the pay lane.

At which point I backed into a pole and dented the %$&*out of my car.  I went from worrying about $50 to worrying about hundreds.  Whatever my deductible is, plus whatever it would probably jack up my insurance.  Because surely there is a surcharge for being too stupid to drive out of a parking lot without hitting non-moving cement structural supports.

This was too much for what was left of my composure.  I made a weepy call to my sainted husband.  A humiliating snuffling visit to the parking office to beg for a price break.  Holy cats, it was awful.

BUT--they are refunding half my parking.  My husband said it didn't matter.  I went home and went to bed and took the whole day off and life is better today.

Anniversary

Well, today marks my 13th anniversary.  Made it through Unlucky 13!

And in many ways it HAS been a tough year, with Mark's job change and finances tighter as a result.  it has been stressful and frustrating at times.  And yet, I am still happy to be married to him.  You say "better or worse, richer or poorer" and you mean it, but of course you're hoping that you'll stay on the positive side of the column.  It's nice to know that you can work, as a couple, even when times aren't so great.

Thank you Mark, for putting up with me.  For making me laugh every single day.   For taking out the trash every week, for rubbing my feet even though it skeeves you out,  for being such a generous father.

Tonight we will celebrate by going out to dinner (using a coupon, of course!) and we will continue our recent tradition of taking the kid with us.  He's one of the most wonderful things to come out of our marriage, so it feels right to include him.