Getting back to normalcy included heading to the grocery store the following day. My chatty favorite was at the checkout counter.
"You have a spring break, eh" she said even while wrapping up the transactions with the customer who was ahead of me. I nodded and smiled.
As she started processing my purchases, of course we engaged in a conversation. "You been goofing around?" she asked with a big grin.
"That's a neat way to describe it, yes." I am always surprised at myself. I can be so closed about some things even as I openly talk and write about others. I didn't feel like telling her that I was on a road trip to California. To spend time with the daughter and son-in-law. And to reconnect with old friends.
"And now it is time to prepare for classes" I said. To some extent, I wanted to preempt any follow up question on how I goofed around.
"Oh, too bad."
"No, it is good. I like being in classes."
"Really? You like being in front of students ..."
"Yes, I do. I love my work." I didn't tell her that it is the screwed-up system and the atrocious colleagues that I cannot tolerate.
"Good for you."
"Yes, I am lucky."
"How about you? Any plans?"
She told me about her upcoming trip to Hawaii, which is a home away from home for her.
"In my life, I have spent time in so many countries, because of my work. I feel at home at most places" she added.
"I agree. The whole world is our home. It is just that we choose to live in one place." I was merely channeling Rudyard Kipling who wrote in Sussex that we are not able to call the entire world our home “since man's heart is small.”
"Who was it who said that travel is a better education than school?"
"I don't know who that was. But, Mark Twain said that travel will make people get rid of bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and he also said that Americans sorely needed that travel experience. To think that he said all that back when ..."
"That's so true." She paused. "You must be a good teacher" she added.
I don't know about being a good teacher. I don't know if I am even a teacher. I tell students that I am merely a guide pointing them the directions at the appropriate moments.
"Thanks" is all I said.
She finished bagging, and I was done with the payment. As I leaned forward to pick up the bag, she came over to the customer side, and patted me on the back and said "you are a great teacher."
I smiled and thanked her.
It is time to prepare for a new term.
The road trip is rapidly fading in life's rearview mirror.
2 comments:
That is high compliment from W. She really is special.
Didn't realise she was a much traveled lady. Cool.
Yes, you are a great teacher. Even your blog posts "teach" - we "learn" from them as much as we are entertained from them.
All the best for the new term.
No, this chatty character is not the one you met. The one you met is a former bodybuilder--that is her claim to fame in my stories.
This one worked for Uncle Sam, and her work took her to different countries ...
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