The magical hat

Today was the 100th day of school and, of course, I volunteered in the classroom. I swear I don't know what I'd blog about if I didn't do something at the school every day.

The 100th Day activities were uneventful. The kids had fun. The kids ate cake. The kids made hats proclaiming their pride in being 100 days smarter.

Mission accomplished.

We were lined up in the hallway after centers and preparing to go to music. There was a class of older kids in the hallway with us and they were oohing and ahhing and making complimentary comments about the kids' hats. The first graders were starry-eyed at the attention being lavished upon them by the older kids.

I wasn't prepared for what happened next. A woman was coming down the hallway. She was blond, dressed in tennis clothes, appeared to have an artificially enhanced bust, and she was giggly and loud. You know the type. Our school has silent hallways (it sounds creepy, but I've grown to see the brilliance in the concept) so her loudness was extra-noticeable. I try not to be judgemental but this woman truly was like some sort of caricature magically brought to life.

I noticed her and dismissed her in the same instant. The older kids had a different reaction:

Girl #1: Wow... like, WOW!

Girl#2: Um, yeah.

Girl#1: She seriously needs a hat (in reference to the I'm 100 days smarter today hat).

Girl #2: Um, no. They tried to give her a hat, but her teacher took it away. There is no way she's getting a hat.

Girl #1: She'd be making the little kids look bad if she got a hat.

And then there was me: smiling in vindication. Suddenly, my faith in humanity -- restored.

Note: I was with Emily's class, not Abby's when this all went down. They're identical twins so I thought I could pull it off. But I guess with Abby's name printed on the hat it was a bit obvious... and this wasn't the hat from Emily's class. Emily was not up for photography, though...