Today my car stalled right when I was about to get on the freeway. Stupid car. And stupid people for honking at me, even though I immediately put on my emergency lights. You know what emergency lights indicate, people? That something’s wrong. So please don’t honk. You just look rude.

After that, the day wasn’t so bad.

At lunch, I went to get my cell phone, as I usually text Chris while I’m eating. You know, things like, “You’re the best husband ever!” or “I can’t wait to hang out with you tonight!” or just plan ol’ “I love you!” Keeps the boy motivated at work. His work is so hard*.

Not.

When I went to get my phone, I saw I already had a message from my beloved.

“Um… so I’m on my way to LA in a limo.”

….

When I got a hold of him, he explained that his boss had called the work day off and rented a limo to take the whole gang up to the Getty for inspiration and lunch.

Needless to say, the Woodman gang is very jealous of the Bulldog gang now.

Speaking of gangs, one of my favorite kids was almost shot today! While he was at a gas station getting air for his bike tires, on his way to school, some guy approached him and asked where he was from. I didn’t know this, but according to our students, that’s gang speak for “What gang do you belong to?” My kid said he was from nowhere… but then he added that the guy might know his cousin so-and-so from such-and-such. And apparently the guy did know cousin so-and-so. Then he proceeded to tell my kid that he was lucky he had a connection; otherwise he would have taken his bike (what a lame gang member, first of all, stealing a kid’s bike?) and then gotten my kid to fight him over it, and then he would have shot him for fighting him.

This is a true story.

I had tears in my eyes as he was telling us this story today. I cannot even imagine something like that happening, yet according to my students this happens all the time. Yeah, we (the teachers and CA’s) complain that our school is in the hood and that we’ve got creepy crazies wandering in our parking lot, but none of us have ever dreamed of an experience like that.

Michelle asked our student what he would’ve done if he hadn’t had the cousin card to play.

“I would’ve had to fight him,” he said.

“No, you would’ve given him your bike and walked away,” she told him.

“That’s not how it works,” he said. “You can’t walk away.”

This is an interesting juxtaposition of a post. Two different worlds. My husband gets to ride up to LA in a limo, and my student nearly gets shot biking to school.

So how did your day go?