I woke at my regular time, that Tuesday morning, and went through my usual morning routine. Except it was a Tuesday. And I’d been watching the price of airline tickets. And I had a feeling today was the day to place my order.
It was and I did. I felt relief and triumph, until I looked at the clock.
Oh, crap! I bolted to my feet and hurried through the rest of my pre-work ritual.
Lunch packed? Check.
Coffee pot unplugged? Check.
Teeth brushed? Check.
I got dressed, took Lucy out for a shorter-than-usual walk, then exited the house. By then, I was running 15 minutes late.
And, of course, there was frost and I had to scrape the car. Add five more minutes to my lateness. Could this day get anymore more discombobulated? I wondered.
Of course it could!
I gained five minutes on my drive and was, once more, only running 15 minutes late. We had a PLT meeting. On my way I found and picked up a few sparkly Shamrocks that were hidden around the school, for prizes at our staff breakfast on Friday. Maybe my luck was changing.
Thank goodness. I had a first period plan. As I scrambled to get my morning together, I noticed little dark flecks on my papers. I blew them off unsure where they had come from. Just before the kids came in, I finally made a cup of tea and ate my banana. In my haste, I dropped a piece of banana. As I bent to pick it off the floor, I noticed sparkles on my top. Oh man, those sparkly shamrocks left a mess on me! I brushed off what I could see and got ready for the onslaught.
I felt shaky through my first class and warned them that I was off my game. They are a great group of kids and just rolled with my discombobulation. I laughed out loud when a student asked me why I was wearing glitter. I simply told them that today, I was just “discombobulated and covered in glitter”.
booksandbassets 
Both of us wrote about time yesterday! While you were running late I found extra time. Funny how there is a common thread.
Read your title and had to go there. I wasn’t disappointed. Sometimes our routines get a little shake-up and I think it’s a good thing. You did it.. with grace and humor.
Somehow when the day starts off late nothing seems to go as planned. I love how students accept what we say and just roll with it. You could have told your students that the glitter was just your sparkling personality coming through.
Love that word, discombobulated! I also had to laugh at the juxtaposition of discombobulated and glitter being in the same sentence. Glad you got the price, but then you did pay a price for that price. 🙂
Rats! I was about to comment on how much I like the word discombobulated, but then I saw that someone else beat me to it. I guess that means I’m running late, too. I do like it, though. At some point I should try to break it down into its parts, but not now. I’m in a rush. I have a lot of mornings like the one you described so well. I try to get to school very early so I can breathe before the kids arrive…but I get later with each week. Right now my excuse is that I’m reading SOLs every morning, and I lose track of time.
I always hate to be late and now that I’m retired, it doesn’t often happen. But sometimes, one thing leads to another and then another and voila – discombobulated! Love the word and how you came out all a-glitter.
Love your title “ Discombobulated and covered in glitter”. It certainly paints a picture. I hate running late too. I think students like us better when we are real with them.
Glitter…that’ll make you sparky for a long time! Thank goodness you and your students rolled with it. Hope you won a prize at your staff breakfast!
You can’t go wrong with glitter! I’m sure the custodian was just as happy as you to find it everywhere!
Glitter makes everything better! Go glitter!