I like to think I am intelligent, thoughtful, curious, bright.  But today, I realized that even those who think they are the smart ones have a little foolish going on.  For starters.  I have not yet been able to remember and sort out the right names for the seven students in my room.  That’s right- I have seven students.  My kindergartners think I am a few fries short of a Happy Meal.  But cut me some slack-  several of their names sound the same phonologically– that counts for something, right?   But even then.  I got my own daughter’s name wrong this morning and called her by her sister’s name.

It happens.  Whatevs.

Carry on.  I have been having some Alzheimer’s tendencies when it comes to my teaching.  We started the year off with me telling the students that autumn, or as I say it- fall was coming.  In my mind, I believed summer turned into fall on September 21^st .  Isn’t it usually the 21^st of each month when the seasons turn?  So, I started the first week of school- building up the momentum towards fall.  Telling those precious, trusting little souls that fall would be arriving on September 21^st.  And I meant to google it- just to be sure.  But I forgot.  So, we arrived there today at school, and one bright little guy- who had listened to me go on and on all month about fall- piped up that today was FALL because it was September 21^st !  And of course I thought to myself, “Darn it- is it already fall?” followed by another quick thought, “… I forgot to google that…” And so of course I said, “You’re right, Johnny!   It is certainly fall!”  And we believed it all day.

News flash.  It is not yet fall.  Fall begins tomorrow.  To which I ask this: does it really matter when summer turns to fall?  I think not.  And besides.  It will be fall on Monday when we return to school, at which point everyone will have forgotten that it wasn’t really fall on Friday.

So later on this lovely autumn-ish afternoon, I am downloading pictures for a curriculum programming.  I accidentally disconnect the keyboard from the hard drive.  I know there is a problem because the icons are not showing up on my screen.  But I keep clicking.  Desperately.  Hoping that maybe the 25^th try at the keyboard will produce some results.  Of course it does not.  So, I leave it for the rest of the afternoon. And pretend this never happened.

I choose rather to focus on the technological successes I have accomplished, those being that I have downloaded pictures from my cell phone to the computer all by myself.   At the end of the day, I proudly tell my on-site computer tech that I was able to download these pictures- and I can feel it: the pride.  I am so proud of myself.  I am so smart.  I tell my tech guy that I even found that DMCI thingy (or whatever that’s called) on the P drive.   I am sure even he cannot do what I have done.  Pure brilliance on my part.  Then, because I am going on and on about my phone, he asks me what kind of phone it is that can work this magic.  I am dumbfounded.  I don’t know what kind of phone it is.  Who cares?  I hardly ever use this phone- thus partly why I am so excited that I could find pictures on it today.  And as I usually forget to plug it in, the battery is dead half the time anyway.  Who can fault a person for not using a phone when the battery is always dead?  Right?

I lie.  The only phone name I can remember is Virgin.  My phone is NOT a Virgin, but that is the only thing I can think of at the moment.  I sincerely WISH it was a Virgin.  I then try to describe the phone- telling him what size it is.  As if that would help him decipher what kind it is.  Spiral down, baby.

Anyhoo, we move on.  I am still rattled about my keyboard not working.  I tell him that there is this problem with my keyboard. He explains to me in such a nice way that there is a cord.  The cord has only one connection.  In fact, I later come to realize it is COLOR CODED.  How very kind of them to color code computer parts for those of us who are computer illiterate.  I do not explain to my colleague that I tried plugging that stupid plug into every nook, cranny and crevice I could find in the nether parts of the hard drive, but rather I smile sweetly and assure him I can handle this one.  It seems almost too easy.

And I go back to my room, and I realize- that the PURPLE connector really does fit into the PURPLE outlet.

Some people are so smart.