After a long day

Yesterday when I got home I sunk into a chair feeling like a damp rag.  Some days are like that.  There was one too many negotiation with hostile terrorists under the age of ten.  Sometimes they don't want to do their work and that's all there is to it.

Emma sat across from me and asked me about my day.  Mark was (naturally) in the kitchen preparing a snack.  I told them a particularly student was naughty.  Mark said, "We've already established that."

Yep.

Even when they're naughty though, I usually have enough clarity to recognize there is some hole in their lives that is making them act that way.  It's why I keep trying.

Then I told them about a really weird conversation I had with another aide.  The aide said, "This is probably foreign in your world, but..."

That comment made me feel every bit as defeated as the recalcitrant students.

What did she mean, "your world?"  Aren't we in the same world?  There was a small group of us talking and I was the only one she designated as living in a different world.  It made no sense to me and also made me feel other and that is not a good feeling.

Emma offered a suggestion, "Maybe she's an alien?"

"She was referring to you as an earthling," Mark added.

It's possible.

Then I told Emma about a different aide who I associate with less.  She is always super nice and friendly to me and has been from the start of the school year.  I told Emma, "She came up to me and hugged me and congratulated me on my new job.  I don't know why she is always so nice to me."

Emma offered a suggestion, "Maybe she's just really nice."

So here's what I know.  It's good to have Emma and Mark to chat with after a hard day and some people are just really nice.  Those are the kind of people that smooth over the others.