I am the grasshoppa

This should have been posted yesterday in keeping with NaPoBloMo but I frankly didn't have time to get it written down before my supper party commenced. Be rest assured, this was composed in my head yesterday.

By the time I was 6, I'd lived in 5 different towns. So it was, in hindsight, a bit of surprise that, once we moved to Casper, we stayed for 10 years¹.

Subsequently, this meant that I was fortunate (sometimes unfortunate) to go to the same schools with the same kids until junior year.

Our second year in Casper, my sister, Jenni, was in the sixth grade and there was a brand new, first year, sixth grade teacher...PW. And I, as a second grader, thought that was really cool because PW was a man...a tall, geeky man. By the time I got to the sixth grade, I'd been boyfriend-girlfriend with all the desirable boys in school and I was tired of all the playground games. I was nearly a teenager and by gum I was ready for a "real man" to crush on and crush on PW, I did. I have a journal from that time. Literally every entry is about 2 things...Ricky Schroeder (shutup) and PW.

Of course, all unrequited puppy love must come to an end some time and that time was long about the second day of junior high when I saw Scott Johnson for the very first time. I promptly forgot all about PW. At least, I forgot all about my crush on PW. I've often thought about him and wondered whether he was still teaching and how he was doing though.

A few months ago, I was reading my facebook news feed and saw a comment on a post of Jenni's from someone with a familiar face and name. It was PW! I was so excited! I even commented on the thread "Jenni! Lookie! It's PW! On your facebook!" I promptly got a personal message from him telling me I was probably old enough to just call him Paul.

Uhm...yeah...no I'm not comfortable with that.

So here we are and it's 25 odd years later and I now have this lovely adult friendship with a former teacher. No, I have not rekindled my crush on him². Sometimes it feels weird because, after all, it is difficult to think of my elementary school teachers having a life outside teaching...even now when I've worked in an elementary school and know teachers are people too. Sometimes I wonder if he remembers the kid I used to be and has a hard time reconciling the adult Jane with the pre-teen Jane. He doesn't seem to.

Anyway, I'm finally getting to my point, aren't you excited?

PW has lady troubles...namely he's not finding a lady with whom to spend his time. The other day, he posted on his facebook that he was interested in a lady friend of his and thought there might be something there but he wasn't sure if he'd mis-read the signs. So I responded to him and told him that the best way to stop wondering was to simply ask her.

I got an e-mail from him yesterday. He totally took my advice! Of all the people who responded to him about what to do, it was me he listened to...which is a good thing because I gave him some damn good advice.

And while I am a virtual dispensary of awesome advice, for some reason, the fact that PW, former teacher, took advice from me, former student, felt really special. I kind of felt like the grasshoppa who, for a glimmering moment, outshone³ the master.




1: My dad didn't. He was the one with the wanderlust...or, in my opinion, the one who thought moving to a different place would bring him the happiness he's long sought and never found. He packed up and left after 6 years in Casper. He probably would have gone sooner...I don't know why he didn't.
2: I totally heard that sigh of relief from here, Jenni. I hope I didn't squick you or anything.
3: Outshone...is that even a word? Have I made this up? My brain is a little foggy from too much wine and too little sleep and I'm too lazy to look it up.