When I Grow Up

When I volunteer at school each week I get to meet individually with the second graders to help them correct any errors they made on their math concept tests. I love how their eyes light up when they "get it" as I explain that you can remember that a hexagon has six sides because they both have an x in them, or that an octagon has eight sides like an octopus has eight legs. I love how they can teach me the definition of a scalene triangle since I haven't had to know that since 10th-grade geometry. I think when all my kids are in school, I would like to get a part-time job there as an educational assistant.

Yesterday I was impressed by the care my children received at the immediate care medical office. The male nurse swabbed Ant and Cutie's throats so gently that they hardly gagged. The kind student nurse-practitioner was so thorough as she checked out their vital signs and all the holes in their heads. The nurser-practitioner trainer was so sympathetic as she prescribed antibiotics for strep throat. That experience almost convinces me to go into the healthcare field when I grow up; but then I think of all the bodily excretions I'd have to deal with and I reject the notion.

Heidi and I went to see "Memoirs of a Geisha" (now on DVD) at the dollar theater in the middle of the week. We would have had a private viewing except there was an older woman sitting by herself on the other side of the theater. We invited her to come sit by us and got to know her a little bit. We found out that she's one of our state legislators from a small town. The session just adjourned for the season and she was waiting for her family to come pick her up this weekend. She named the things she was glad the legislature was able to accomplish this year, and the issues she was disappointed that they couldn't resolve. I asked her personal opinion of a few of the people in the state running for office and she obliged. I'm so glad she came to sit by us; she seems like a real down-to-earth lady. Maybe I'll run for political office when I grow up.

So many options, such a little life.