We in the Heathen Family get really excited over nerdy fun. Last night, for instance, Aaron and I went to the county library sale. It's held in an enormous, dusty space at a local event arena that Aaron swears causes him to have an attack of IBS.
*Side note: As a former employee of a bookstore and and a current wife to an IBS sufferer, I have observed that places that sell or loan books suffer from a lot of smelly bathroom traffic. Is it a coincidence or does paper activate the bowels?
Anywhooo, I am sitting on the floor at the library sale, evaluating the 200 picture books that I hastily grabbed from the already ransacked tables and I zero in on a nearby conversation. The mother/daughter pair looked familiar and I soon realized that I had seen them at the downtown library returning a massive quantity of books. I listened to the mother's conversation with a teacher-like person and I soon realized that she was a homeschooling parent. I observed she had about three boxes of books to buy and her daughter was polite, attentive and dressed creatively (not like a member of the Jr. Prostitutes Society). As a pair the mother and daughter looked happy and only spoke in positive upbeat tones. As I turned away from that intrusion, I noticed a young woman sliding her box of books over to my sorting area and I indicated that I wouldn't mind if she moved closer, out of the way of passing people. I commented on a book she was considering and then she started talking to her friend, who inquired about her 2nd Graders. I was then treated to a dismal account of her classroom, where most of her kids were reading at a kindergarten level. She went on to describe how she spent most of her day settling the kids down to move on to the next topic. "The transitions are a nightmare!" Her tone was negative, if not downright venomous. I looked back at the happy homeschool family and decided to take another pass at the tables to look for teaching materials...
1 day ago
