Just Sitting

I've been pondering what to write about today and many things have come to mind - and quickly left. So I have been sitting here between classes at the University, listening. What fun this turns out to be.

I sit in a hall, with laptop on the desk, and seriously attempt homework. Sometimes I actually get a lot done. Today's not one of those times. I've been too busy listening and watching. The hall where I perch houses 5 classrooms on one side of the wall, and 7 faculty offices on the other. I sit smack dab in the middle. Would you expect any less?

Today I sat and listened to one class on my right do a presentation on AIDS/HIV. The one on my left did a presentation on Social Activism. I could watch as students went to the doors of the Professors and check the schedule, knock anyway, and stand there waiting for no one. Or if they were lucky enough to find a Professor in their office, I could hear them asking again when the deadline was, look shocked and horrified, and then give some excuse as to why it wasn't turned in yesterday. "My computer crashed." "I just got back to town." "My dad has been really sick." I found it humorous, actually.

What fun college life is for us old people who remember the deadlines, actually get it done before the deadline, don't knock when the schedule says the Professor is in class, and get to sit in the center of it all when they have "in between" time. I love it.

I think it makes me look smart, too. I get people wandering the halls coming up to me. "Where are the restrooms?" I point to my left. "Where's the testing center?" I point downstairs. "Where's the Student Union?" I point outside. I love the one ... "Where's Professor Kennedy?" I say, "Wherever her schedule says she is," even when I know she's in the classroom on my right. I can be so mean sometimes.

The reason I think it makes me smart was a conversation I just had with a classmate. A young one, of course. "Do we have an assignment in DSM?" she asked. I said, "I don't think so, but I could be wrong." She looked amazed and said, "You?! You're never wrong!"

I laughed.

But I think being old enough to be their mother, getting the assignments done, and being smart enough to sit in the middle of all the action, is to my benefit.

It also helps to know where the restroom is ...


Chelle