Now I get it

So, obviously this regular posting business continues to be a challenge. My apologies to all those loyal fans out there. All three of you.

Anyway, a quick update. I’ve started my new job with Citizen Schools! So far so good! I’m at my school site, completing training, recruiting students, planning program….in short, my head is spinning. But in a good way. I’m going to learn like 10 million things in this job, I can tell.

One quick lesson so far: I really understand why sneakers are so aptly named.

See, for my new job I have to dress kind of fancy so I look the part of a teacher lady. Those who know me know that I’m not really a fancy dresser normally. So basically I had to go on a major shopping spree to completely overhaul my wardrobe. Combine this with my long-held idea that I should learn to wear heels and be a real live grown up lady, and you get NEW FANCY SHOES! I found some lovely wedge heels at Nordstrom Rack. They are black with a little flower-like bow thing on the toe. Adorable. I’m completely in love with them. I’ve been wearing them around the house to break them in a bit and make a day in them tolerable.

So yesterday I finally got up the courage to wear them to work. Yay! Feeling so cute. But then I discover that they make a really noisy click-clacking sound when I walk. You know the sound. At first I liked it, because it really did sound like a real live grown up lady was walking your way. But then I started to think maybe it’s a bit annoying to have everyone always know you’re coming. And then a bunch of the students were doing testing in the Family Room, aka the big open space right next to our office. Which meant that when I had to go to the bathroom, make copies, or otherwise venture out into in the school building, I had to click-clack my way over the tile floor in a silent room with like 50+ students all listening to/watching me. Not my idea of a great time.

And then on one trip back, one of the students actually started mimicking the sound of my shoes by makign clicking noises with his tongue, in rhythm with my walking of course. As if that wasn’t embarrassing enough, when I got back to office I couldn’t get my key to work in the door. Sheesh. No wonder new teachers get so stressed….all those eyes trained only on you.

Anyway, it was at that time that I realized the brilliance of sneakers. You can actually walk quietly in them! Meaning that you can sneak. I guess I always knew that was the concept behind the word sneakers, but now I had experienced it for myself.

Maybe I’m not meant to be a fancy lady after all. Or maybe I can find a way to do it in sneakers.