Inspy Romance

Inspy Romance—Fall in Love With a Good Book

A Day in the Life (part 1)

by

Hey Everyone – I hope you’re having a wonderful day! It’s the last day of our big Back-to-School Giveaway, so be sure to comment. Every comment gets entered for a chance to win one of our amazing prize packs.

In the meantime, I decided to do something a little different with this month’s post. I’m starting a story, and y’all get to come along for the ride. Hopefully you’ll be hooked and will want to come back next month to see the next installment. So, buckle up, and (please, please, pretty please) enjoy! ^_^

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I used to think life was easy, you know? I trekked along, did my thing, worked my job, paid my bills, taught kindergarten Sunday school, and smiled at passing strangers. I was content. Life was full. Rich. God was good, and I felt His goodness like a hug every single day.

Then I got furloughed. The government regularly furloughs people, though. It takes time to negotiate – or fight over – a budget that big. Sure. I understood. I kept money in savings because I kind of expected to get furloughed every single budget cycle. It was kind of like one of the seasons in government life – spring, summer, fall, furlough, winter.

The furlough stuck around, though, and eventually turned into a layoff. By the time they told me that, I’d already burned through most of my precious savings. Three months. I spent three months expecting to get my job back. Meanwhile, the economy nosedived every which way from Sunday, and there were no jobs left to be had.

My big, beautiful, rich, full life in metropolitan DC was incinerated before my very eyes. I had no job to work. I had no money to pay those bills. I had nothing to smile about at those passing strangers. I still did my thing. Sort of. Can I really call teaching Sunday school my thing? It was all I had left, and I lived for those sweet, smiling faces. Their laughter, their joy, their occasional obnoxiousness – they reminded me that God was still good…even if I didn’t feel that goodness surrounding me like a hug anymore.

Enter Jacob Maximilian Short. Most everyone called him Jacob. A few of the daring ones called him Jake. The rest still called him Mr. Short. He was…intimidating. Tall, sure. Well dressed, undeniably. He put my wardrobe to shame, that was for sure. Overbearing? Um, yeah. Overprotective of his precocious niece and nephew? You’d better believe it. I saw Jacob in passing at church each Sunday. I knew who he was. I’d heard the stories in the Sunday school department, too.

Not that we’re supposed to gossip. We’re not. But…sometimes teachers need to vent. Mr. Short gave Sally in the nursery the third degree when his niece got a bruise on her shin. Never mind that her brother had tried climbing out of the crib, had leveraged himself on the mobile while Sally was changing a newborn’s diaper. The mobile had, of course, come crashing down into the crib. Thank goodness a little bruise was the worst thing to come out of that affair.

That wasn’t the first incident with Mr. Short’s niece and nephew, but that was the one that prompted the church to change its nursery policy. They didn’t even pretend to make it unofficial. It went into the written guidelines and everything. Anytime the twins – Alistair and Amaria Short – were in the nursery, two extra staffers had to be on hand. One for each twin. Eyes had to be on them at all times. Or else.

I don’t think Mr. Short ever threatened to sue the church if anything happened to either of the kids. He did hover, though, and the only way to get him away from the nursery door was to make sure two people stood watch over those…um…rambunctious…children every moment of their time in the nursery.

Once they got to the toddler room, the church staff relaxed the rules. Surely two adorable toddlers couldn’t get into any more trouble than normal active toddlers. Of course not… Until Amaria climbed the bookcase and tried to fly. She only got away with it because Alistair had stubbed his toe. To this day, Miss Geneva is convinced that it was all a ploy, that Alistair was distracting with his screaming and carrying on so that Amaria could climb the bookcase.

So the guidelines for the toddler room got rewritten.

Then came the classroom for the 2s and 3s. Amaria gagged like she was going to throw up. While Miss Liz raced the little girl to the garbage can, Alistair managed to get into her desk, pull out the box of dry erase markers, and bite the tips off of three of them and suck on them like straws. Thank goodness they were nontoxic.

As for their next classroom… Well, there’s a reason that room has gone through five teachers in the past two years.

And now those lovely little angels – I use the term loosely – have graduated to kindergarten. Yay me.

Teaching this class is my weekly reminder of how good God is even when my life is in a shambles.

Teaching this class is my one regular weekly joy.

Teaching this class puts a smile on my face.

Teaching this class is…

Let’s just say, I thought about giving up as soon as I saw their names on the roster I received by email. Calling it quits and moving back home with my folks…1500 miles away. Lately, though, I’ve just lost so much. I don’t want to give up anything else. So, I’m staying. I’m a good teacher. I’ve got this.

Mistake Number One? I underestimated my enemy.

Not the kids. Oh, no, no, no. They’re looking up at me with wide smiles and eyes so innocent they practically declare all the whispered horror stories are outright lies.

Their uncle, though? He’s looking at me as though he could skin me alive with a rusty letter opener and not an ounce of guilt. “I trust you to keep an eye on them.”

He’s not asking me. He’s demanding it. How am I supposed to respond to that? “Um…of course? I’ve been teaching kindergarten for a couple of years now. The twins’ll be fine.”

I would have called his blue eyes stunning if it wasn’t for that whole glacial I’ll-hunt-you-down-and-make-your-life-miserable-if-anything-happens-to-them vibe he had going on. “That’s what their last teacher said.”

My world was pretty much laying in ruins around my feet, the smoke still rising from the charred remains of the happy, contented person I used to be. And this guy thought he was going to use his height, broad shoulders, and sexy-deep voice to intimidate me?

Uh-uh. No way.

Something inside of me snapped.

That’s the only explanation. Aside from temporary insanity, which is kind of the same thing but sounds a lot worse.

I looked at Jacob Maximillian Short, gave him my biggest smile, grabbed each of the children by a hand, turned my back on the man, and walked those please-be-little-darlings-today into my room. I tossed a look back over my shoulder and said what any self-respecting woman would say. “Be sure to shut the door on your way out, Maxie.”

I got the twins settled into two seats at completely different tables, and I clapped my hands. “Alright! Who’s ready to get started today? We’re going to sing a song to God, and then we’re going to pray. Can anybody guess what we’re going to sing?”

The kids didn’t seem to notice it, but the click of the door closing echoed inside my skull like a gong. The kind of eardrum-splitting gong that summons soldiers for war.

Hm. Maybe I should have played that a little differently…

****

Thanks so much for joining us on the blog today! To enter the Back-to-School Giveaway, all you need to do is comment below. If you don’t know what to say, why don’t you share a funny (the scarier…er…um…funnier…the better!) story about when you were a kid, your own kids, or some kiddos you’ve taught somewhere along the way.

Heather Gray (145 Posts)

Heather Gray loves coffee, God, her family, and laughter – not necessarily in that order! She writes approachable characters who, through the highs and lows of life, find a way to love God, embrace each day, and laugh out loud right along with her. And, yeah, her books almost always have someone who's a coffee addict. Some things just can't be helped. Despite their different lives and situations, Heather’s characters have something in common. They're all flawed...but loved anyway.


Comments

  1. I love serie stories on blogs! I’m curious about this story! I love young children. They are always so happy!

  6. What a fun story. Did you enjoy writing it? I enjoyed reading it. Have a blessed day. Blessings

  9. This story is great already!! I can relate to the government furlough stuff, as my Daddy worked Civil Service at PAFB here in FL on the Space Coast, and we experienced that a few times! Not near as often as they do now, though! I also can relate because I taught preschoolers in SS at church, too. Looking forward to the next installment!!

  12. Oh this was a fun read. Cant wait for the next installment.
    I was a volunteer in our church nursery for 25 years. I have seen and heard all kinds of things. Things to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, things that would make you laugh so hard you would not be able to breath. But one was about an infant that would not leave her parents. Her parents were great people. My husband and I built a friendship with them. But their first was… well their first. And mom was very protective. Despite the nudges and help I tried to give. Mom wanted to keep her little darling (and she really was a darling) with her during service. Dad wanted to let me take care of her. So once in a while dad would bring his little darling into the nursery and hand her to me. Well this little darling did nothing but scream. Oh but this upset mom. As she became a toddler she was finally coming into the nursery once a month. But she still screamed. Finally I just asked them to bring their little darling into the nursery every Sunday and just let her work it out. It took two months of screaming and fits (by the way we had her in another room with a few other children she knew, myself and another volunteer) for her to finally come down to only sniffles. And then the week before she would have moved up in class she started playing with the other children. Sigh LOL Now I was afraid she would do this all over again. But because most of the other little ones she knew moved up with her, she was fine. In fact she was more than fine. She could not wait for dad to come and pick her up so she could share what she had learned about God today. She is now five and a most intelligent and lovable and enthusiastic child. And us volunteers learned a lot about patience and Gods love through this little darling. God works in wondrous and beautiful ways.

  13. I had triplet boys in Sunday school. They were already 7 or 8 by then but were still a handful. We didn’t have enough other children to actually separate them. Now they’re 12 and some of my favorite people.
    Another boy I had, age 3 at the time, liked to pretend to be the Hulk. I had to explain that the Hulk did not take his shirt off during church.

  14. Oh my. I love your short stories (though most of the time I want them to be full stories). I’m sooo looking forward the next part. Thank you!!!

  15. We have to wait a WHOLE MONTH for the next installment…that’s like pure torture! GAH….seriously you have me hooked…..PLEASE don’t leave me in suspense that long….

    Okay, totally have my attention now, I’m assuming this story doesn’t come in book form where I can immediately go and buy or borrow it NOW and beg for mercy to put me out of my misery? SIGH….

    :-)

  16. Loved this! “Maxie!” LOL!! Mine isn’t a specific incident, but the setting. Imagine this: 3-year-old Vacation Bible School. There are FIFTEEN of them – all 3 years old, mind you – and ONE GIRL! HA!!! It was the year that taught me not to volunteer for preschool VBS! From then on, 5th grade all the way!

  24. I enjoyed this story and would like to read more. I work at a school as a special ed para and spend my afternoons in a kindergarten class (mornings are with second graders). They are so fun but I come home TIRED!

  25. I enjoyed reading your story, looking forward to reading more of it. I worked part time at a Day Care,we had from newborns to pre school little ones, we would also have after school kiddos, it was a lot of fun, with little ones there is never a dull moment. I also volunteered as a catechist, I taught for over 25 years and I loved it, it is so rewarding to do this. Little ones are funny and truthful. I also volunteered as a reading mentor for 2nd and 3rd graders for about 5 yrs. One thing I will never forget is when I worked at the daycare part time a little 4 yr old boy went to the potty and he needed help after, well the lady that helped him came out and told us quietly and laughing that the little boy was wearing a feminine pad, so our coworker asked him how come he had one on and why and so he said that his sister was wearing one and so he put one on himself. Poor little guy, it was a little funny.

  28. I had two preschoolers when I read a sign or something that said, “As a mom, I learn something everyday. On Monday, I learned patience. On Tuesday, I learned patience. On Wednesday, I learned patience…” ^_^

  34. I’m glad you’re enjoying the story! :-)

    I’d never even heard of furlough until I moved to the DC area, but in the decade+ that I’ve lived here, it seems to be at least an annual event. It makes me sad for all those families who have to figure out how to survive in the meantime. Not everyone has enough savings to see them through.

  35. I can imagine! One year when I taught fourth grade English, my class was ALL boys. They were all good kids, too, but you put a bunch of boys together, and things are always going to get interesting. Blessings to you as you referee those boys!

  37. What a great story! That’s definitely one of the things about working with children – especially in a church setting – you not only have to be able to work with the children, but you also have to be able to work with their parents. And not everybody parents the same way – and sometimes even Mom and Dad have different approaches. And what a blessing – both to the child and to the parents – it is when teacher and parents can work together to do what’s best for the child. I’ve seen God do so many special things in children’s ministries.

  38. ROFL! I cringed when I read about triplet boys…and then I laughed out loud when I got to your shirtless little Hulk. What a hoot! There’s never a dull minute when you’re working with kids, is there? :-)

  43. Right!? I tried to write twins once before, but it didn’t work out, and I ended up making it a single-child home. As I started writing this one, though, I figured out what my problem was. I’d tried to make those other twins into sweethearts…and twins are so much more fun to write when they’re a handful-and-a-half! :-)

  49. I’ll bet you do! Kids are a blast – but they’re exhausting, too! I had a pastor one time whose wife – who was in her 70s – told me one time that she sometimes thought parenthood was wasted on the young, that the older she got, the more she thought she had a better mindset for parenting…but that God knew what he was doing because she was ready for a nap after fifteen minutes with any of the kiddos… ^_^

  50. Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my goodness. That’s hysterical! I’m so glad you shared that with me – I’m going to be laughing for a long time over that one! ^_^

  52. Oh, add me to the army of the hooked! This guy is raising Thing 1 and Thing 2! It’s fun to imagine where the nickname business could go, too.

    Jacko
    Jakie-pooh
    Maxifiveanddime
    Short stuff
    Slim JMS
    J-max
    Uncle J
    Mr. Cat in the Hat (be sure to collect Thing 1 and Thing 2 after class!)

    Another month? Yup, another lesson in patience. :)

  53. Seems to me the hijinks are only just beginning!
    When I started kindergarten, the story goes that I would ask to go to the toilet, then walk to my grandmother’s home. So much more fun with grandma than being at school, lol! Eventually they caught on to what I was doing and I had to be monitored for the rest of the year so I couldn’t just walk out of school. To be fair I don’t recall this, but I still have a tendency to be distracted by what’s happening outside! Such a beautiful night view from the window now, lol!

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