Lost but not Forgotten.

Today I lost my purse at school. My life was in there. Phone, License, Credit, Debit, Car Keys, Apt Key. Life. I went back to the attendance office, and Ms. Fierro said that she saw it on the counter and she thought Ms. Leriche or Ms. Shearer grabbed it for me. I tracked them down, and neither of them had seen it. My principal was scouring the school for me. Our secretary made an announcement over the loud speaker. Teachers I did not know were looking for my purse, my life. Everyone was saying a kid must have took it. I did not want to believe that. Not my kids, they wouldn't.

Trying not to break down I thought about what I was going to need to do. Call my dad? Book a flight home? What were my options here? I had no clue. I was so tired, my mind was spiraling. I remembered another teacher who was in the attendance office and ran to his room. The thought, "I really hope it is not sitting on my desk," flashed in my head. He did not have it. My brain was beginning to wake up and I remembered that I had gone to the teachers' lounge. I remembered that I had looked in a cabinet for a spoon. Checked the cabinet, no purse. I sat there for a second holding back tears. My lunch! I put my lunch away. I checked my lunch bag but it wasn't in there. When I went to go put my lunch back in the fridge, I saw something that didn't belong. My purse. There it was just chillin' (pun definitely intended). My mind jumped back to that thought I had before, "I really hope it is not sitting on my desk," that thought sounded very good at this point, because now I had to basically tell the entire school, faculty and staff, that not only did I, Ms. Schwartz, put my purse in the refrigerator, but I had a minor mental breakdown over it, minor.

I started sulking back to the office, purse in hand, and everyone I saw on my way asked, excitedly, "where was it?!" "In the teachers' lounge" was my cunning reply. But when I got to the office, with a sheepish grin plastered across my face, my principal laughed and asked "What! where was it?" I looked around, looked back at my purse, looked at the floor, and said, "In the Refrigerator." An awkward silence followed. My belief is that Ms. Cavasos (the secretary) and Mr. Alvarez (the principal) were thinking to themselves, "I'm going to try to hold back this burning laughter in order to save this poor girl some dignity." But that all changed when I broke out into somewhat of a chuckle, which may or may not have been coupled with an urge to break out crying as well. They glanced at each other with straight faces, and then they joined me in the hysterics. I am ridiculous. As I cried out "I am sooooo tiiiiireeeddddd," Mr. Alvarez said, "it happens to the best of us." I knew what he meant but all I could think was, "really, you've put your purse in the fridge too?!"

That was just the beginning of my day. The rest of the day was O.K. I was teaching the same thing I did yesterday, so little planning was needed last night. Everything went well yesterday, so when I had trouble today I was stunned. I was frustrated. They wouldn't stop talking. I made kids stand up for the rest of class because they were talking when I was talking. It was a small reminder of my summer school class, and that scares me. It must stop. It will tear me apart if I let it continue. Tomorrow we're moving on the Classroom jobs, and we're also taking a syllabus quiz. So we will see how that goes.

Wish me luck, I'm going to need it.

Caroline-The Fridge-Schwartz