...bite me, Piglet style

if you are a regular reader...
you know of Piglet's mouth lesions...
due to an immune system problem...

my vet was going to have a vet dentist friend...
pull several of her teeth...
as that seems to help in this kind of situation...

it had been a couple of weeks since her last steroid shot...
and I knew she was starting to hurt again...
she was eating very tentatively...
and had started huddling next to me the last couple of days...

so today... as I was sleeping off this stupid virus...
that I don't have time for right now...
with Piglet snuggled as close as she could get...
and looking as pitiful as could be...
the phone rang...

it was one of the techs at my vets...
telling me that the surgery would be tomorrow...
so I needed to have her there around 8:00 AM...
with NO FOOD in the previous 8 hours...

I could have managed that with Pigs...
SHE wasn't eating anyway...
Fluff, on the other hand would have been VERY upset...
as she tends to eat little meals... OFTEN...

so... since Pigs was already at hand...
I scooped her up... and took her in then...

she was NOT happy...
but was soon resigned to her fate...
I know she didn't expect to be left there...
and is at this very moment...I'm quite sure...
plotting some terrible revenge...

as I sit writing this...
through the fever fog of whatever this is...
I can hear the rumble of the treat ball...
being plied for it's goodies in the LR...

Lacy is looking much better after the medicine for her cold...
[I haven't heard a sneeze in hours...]
I need to go back to bed...
I wore myself out doing the trash & cat boxes this AM...
then making a run to the store for soda crackers...
Sprite... soup... deli turkey breast...
and frozen mac & cheese...

also carrot juice...yogurt...yogurt shots[immune booster]
milk... Hershey's syrup... and malted milk powder...

they don't carry malted milk powder at Raleys...
so I stopped on my way home from dropping off the Piglet...
and got some...as well as the Sprite I forgot earlier...
[I am VERY fuddled at the moment... as a result...
THIS post is taking a lot more effort than usual...]

one of the managers of the SMART Foods store I was in...
was a band student of mine...probably 15 years ago...
but today... another young man in an apron...
who I recognized right away as a former student...
[their eyes never change...nor does their smile...]
said,"excuse me, are you a teacher?"

since I recognized his face, I cut to the chase...
and told him I remembered him...
he had been in one of my English/reading classes...
in the last 4 years I taught...

he mentioned a Japanese anime movie,"Princess Mononoke"...
that I used to have the sub show when I was absent...
[the kid's good behavior for the sub would affect what I left
the next time I had to be gone...a test or a film...their choice...]

he mentioned how much he had liked that film...
and how it had gotten him into that genre...

it never fails to amaze me how some little thing you do...
can so impact someones life...for years...

it's probably been 6 or 7 years since he was in my class...
but he still remembered that film...

I told him that his manager had also been a student of mine...
the way he grinned, I'm sure they'll be comparing "Miz B" stories soon...

when I was a kid...we never went to "town"...
without seeing someone who had been a student of Mom's...
even in her later years...people would stop her on the street...
to reconnect with her...to tell her how important she'd been to them...


when she had to have a complete hysterectomy in 1990...
to remove a pre-cancerous growth...
and was hospitalized in Fresno at St Agnes...
I arrived one day, on my long commute from Mudville...
to find her asleep...
with a young man I didn't know...
sitting there as she slept...

he introduced himself as one of her "former students"...
telling me that Mom was his favorite teacher...
and that he owed her a lot... so he had come to pay his respects...
we chatted... and after a while... he left...

when Mom woke up... I told her that he had been there...
she was sorry that she had missed him...
she told me that he had had some learning disabilities...
that kept him from reading and as a third grader...
he was already way behind...and it was getting worse...

Mom recognized his disability... and worked with him...
special tutoring... and a large dose of encouragement...
worked for him... and he had gone on to succeed in school...
and later became a very successful businessman...

he had always given her credit for his success...
she would just say that she was in the right place...
at the right time...to be able to help...
it was her job... and she was glad to do it...

I have no unrealistic ideas about all the kids who were in my class...

I know that I wasn't the most important teacher in their lives...
[at least... not much past jr high...]

I'm just pleased when someone who had me during grades 7/8...
[when ALL adults who are authority figures are not to be trusted...]
remembers at least something from my class with a smile...

and goes out of their way to say...

"didn't you used to be my teacher?"...

that leaves a warmth that I know isn't fever...