WHEN LIFE HANDS YOU HUMIDITY...

My classroom was 89 degrees today.

EIGHTY. NINE. DEGREES.

By 4th period, I could barely stand up. I have one fan, but it can only do so much. I got very dizzy and had to sit down a lot. The thing is, there are 2 days of school left. Many of my kids tested out of their final since we dangle a carrot in front of them to score high on the OGT in March. So I have NOTHING LEFT TO HOLD OVER THEM.

They're great kids, but they can only do so much.

When it's 89 degrees.

And there's 2 more days of school.

So I find myself not really having the energy to stop the random wrestling/poking/marker throwing that is starting to happen. Playing the pregnant card doesn't usually work with 15 and 16 year olds. They just wonder why I'm so cranky.

Oh boy. I don't know HOW I'm going to make it in that room the first month of school when I'm NINE months pregnant and it's that hot. I really don't. I'm starting to get worried.

Of course, the main offices are air conditioned. You gotta love it, huh? Not in the trenches, though.

So by 6th period, when I could barely talk, one of my students decided to try and fix it. He asked if he could run to the foods room because he had an idea. Dizzy and overwhelmed, with my head on my desk, I mumbled "mmmhmmm" and threw him my pass.

He came back with a lunch tray full of ice cubes.

"I think this will help!" he said as he took a few extra books and put the tray on top of it. Then, he put the fan in front of it.

You know what? It took the ice about 25 minutes to totally melt, but for 25 glorious minutes I had some cool air blowing out of that fan. He was really proud of himself.

Making the best out of a rotten situation rocks. And it rocks even more when it's a 15 year old who saw how miserable I was and decided to try and help me out a bit. It kinda reminded me of when I made the best out of a rotten situation at Ironman, only it was the reverse...I was SO. COLD. Lips blue, teeth chattering cold. And then I remembered how my Ironbud and Coach said to save time on the bike...and decided, in my half-delirious brain, "hey, that just might warm me up."

You know what? It did. It was FUNKNASTY but it was the only time on that entire 112 miles I felt warm.

When life hands you lemons or an 89 degree classroom, you can "consider me Miles Davis" and drink TOO MUCH LEMONADE to warm up or have an insightful, future engineer 15 year old use a lunch tray to help you cool down.

Bottom line? Sometimes you can't do it all on your own.

And it's good to lean on unconventional wisdom. Even if it's on a brown plastic lunch tray.