58/365 First Day of School

Today, we are the best teachers in the world.
Our classrooms are bright and spotless
Our lessons are prepared weeks ahead
Our inbox is empty
The hallways are as silent as we expect them to be
And this time
We are ready for the children
Tomorrow we will greet them
Certain this year will be a hundred times better than last year
Working that vaseline-tooth smile
That overeager look of botox surprise
As we tell them how glad we are to see them
Remark at how quickly they've grown since last we saw their smiling faces
Allow them to pretend they are unhappy to be back here
That they never missed this place for a minute
And just for kicks, when they ask,
We let them guess which Caribbean island we've just come back from
Knowing they'll never guess the suntan we're sporting
Was little more than a backyard lawn chair and a pitcher of sangria
Four days ago,
When we ran out of August
And spent one last afternoon praying the calendar was mistaken.

We are rested and ready
Filled with passion and dedication that we are certain
Will carry us from the first week of September
Right on through to the second week of
September.
And after that we will fake it when we need to
Cobble together the scraps of our time, sanity, and good pedagogy
Knit it together with personality and flair
Patch it quickly with a glue stick two minutes before homeroom
Bedazzle it with last-second glitter as they walk through the door
And shout,
Ta-DAA!
Knowing full well they will insist they are unimpressed
Ask why they have to learn this
Claim they lost the worksheet again
And refuse to work with their partner
Because they did not get to pick their partner today
They just got stuck with them
And their partner is being a stupidhead
And this assignment is stupid
And so are you.

And, being the best teachers in the whole world,
We know better than to be pricked by the words of elementary school children
To let their bitter tongues find the chinks in our armor
To be chafed by unwelcome memos and meetings
The inevitable failure of technology just when we most need it.
These are the thousand little scrapes that will wear us thin.
Send us staggering to the teacher's room for a few deep breaths
A deep swig of coffee
And a receptive ear
Or strong shoulder
We know where to find these things when we need them
We know how to offer them o each other
At just the right time
We know that look
We've all had it at one time or another
And we know what we can do when we see it coming
Today, and every day
We are the best teachers in the world.
Not one of us got this way
On our own.