Call From The Principal

Mother's of school-age children know the drill.
The house phone rings in the middle of the morning, everyone you know calls your cell phone. It's probably another telemarketer or the phone company wanting to put you on a different plan... until you see the caller ID & it's...

...your child's school!
Your heart leaps into your throat. You are at once filled with dread. Your initial thought is "WHAT did he do?!" second is "I hope he's OK!" So with butterflies pelting your insides, you grab the phone and say, "Hello?" in a voice you hope is nonchalant, cheerful & natural, you'll settle for anything that doesn't reveal the truth, you've read the caller ID and begun to panic.

The voice on the other end of the line announces that he is the assistant principal of your child's school, and that your child is with him in his office. Now your heart falls from your throat to the pit of your stomach as you acknowledge that you are indeed the mother of the child in question.

"I was just calling to let you know that Ethan has switched lockers & he is all set."
You thank him very much and hang up the phone.

So that's it. Ethan had a locker where the lock was a few inches above his head, difficult to SEE even more difficult to unlock. So now he has been moved to a nice low, bottom locker just like I requested. Hooray!

Do you think teachers & school administrators know? Do you think they know how we panic every time they call? They must know. I like to think that the kind ones blurt out their purpose as quickly as possible to put us out of our misery.

If you're new to the whole experience, you'll soon know what I'm talking about, and If someone from school calls and begins to beat around the bush - that's when it's REALLY time to panic.