Sistah Pat

Evidently, I don’t know what a nerd is.  I wore a long, frumpy gray pleated skirt, a baggy white blouse, socks and orthopedic shoes.  Plastered my hair flat but coaxed a cowlick to stick up right on the top and sprayed the Hell out of my hair to get it to stay that way.  Got  a pair of black framed glasses and taped the nose piece.  Finally, I did my best to create a unibrow and topped it off with RED old lady lipstick. That’s what a nerd wears, right?  Most of the other teachers did their hair in cute little ponytails or pigtails and went with the “cheerleader look”.  They wore knee socks and short skirts or jumpers and plastic jewelry.  They looked fresh and cute and I looked like an old battle axe teacher.  The guys got it right.  They went with suspenders and high water pants and waistbands halfway up their chests.  What does a female nerd look like, anyway?

Today is Spirit Day.  All the kids dress in their class colors and there’s a pep rally the last hour.  Makes it pretty easy to figure out what to wear.  Tee shirt and jeans.

DIL’s boyfriend came back.  At least, that’s what the kids say.  Jake told me that he was supposed to pick them up early yesterday.  I started racking my brain for the correct response.  I mean, what am I supposed to do if some guy shows up to pick up the kids?  If I refuse, I know it’s going to get ugly and I don’t want to be accused of not releasing the boys when I’m supposed to but, on the other hand, if I release them to some guy I don’t even know and something happens, I could and would be held responsible.

I called the caseworker.  First time I’ve ever talked to him and he said, “Oh, that’s between you and Stacy.  Just call her and make sure it’s okay.”  I said, “I don’t have a phone number for her anymore.  She gave me her mother’s phone number but I don’t think that’s going to help.”  He said, “Well, just give her mother a call and ask her to call you if she wants him to pick them up.  I’m not at the office right now but I don’t think it should be a problem.”  I said, “The court charged me with taking the kids everyday and watching them until Stacy gets off work so she can pick them up.  I’m not comfortable with releasing them to someone I don’t know.”  He said, “Well, like I said, that’s between you and her.  You need to talk to her about it.  Feel free to call me if you have anymore questions.”  Yeah…sure.  Luckily, she showed up at the correct time to pick them up.  Pulled up in the drive and sat there waiting for them to come out.  I guess I should have gone out and talked to her about it but I was angry and didn’t think things would go very well.