Do you work on your birthday? Some people I know take their birthdays off. Don’t know what they do, but they don’t work. I always go to work. Even on my birthday. Like today. I figure that teachers have enough days off, that when it’s a school day, and the kids are expected to be in class, then so, too, should the teachers.
Heck, I’ve listened to teachers tell me in confidence that there are days when they call in sick just to go to the beach or a ball game. They think I understand, I suppose, but I don’t understand.
So, birthday or not, here I am getting ready for class. I used to come to work even when I was sick. Didn’t matter how sick, I didn’t skip being in my classroom no matter what. There was a stretch of about nine or ten years straight I didn’t miss a single day of school as a teacher. Not even an inservice day. Those are the days teachers have to be at work even when the kids are off.
There was a day about three or four years ago, I was sick, must have been the flu, and my wife told me to call in sick. But of course, stubborn me, I said I never call in sick. Next thing, it's first period and I’m getting dizzy, and couldn’t even make it to the nurse’s office before collapsing, and hearing the principal calling 911.
Yep, there I was on my way to the hospital in an ambulance. So, OK, lesson learned. If you got the flu, call in sick and get better.
But I’m the same way about my writing. Don’t try to get me to stop, because I won’t. Too much work to get done. I’m glad I’m like that. It’s what gets the book completed. And so it goes.
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