7/11/11

Mr. Applin. Letter.

I'm trying to keep going with my Three Word Journal so, with that in mind I decided to write about something I did in the eighth grade. It was really naughty and I've repented of it over and over all these years!
Mr. Applin was probably my favorite teacher, EVER! He and his little family moved into a small rental home down the street from ours in La Verne. Funny! Looking back, they probably weren't even out of their twenties. His wife, Marian, and their son, Kenny, were so cute. My parents took them under their wing (good grief, THEY probably weren't even out of their thirties!) and helped them any way they could to feel part of the community. They were from Michigan, I think and after a couple of years here, they went back.
Mrs. Michael was one of the other eighth grade teachers and she was a sour puss! I can't remember ANY time that she smiled! I wonder if I would have liked her now, knowing how hard it is to teach...especially unruly students.
We had a lesson on Benjamin Franklin and I remember vividly a quote from him that Mrs. Michael gave us. "It is impossible for an empty bag to stand alone!" I'm sure I thought what followed was a great idea at the time, not thinking that so much now. I wrote a note with the quote followed by, "How does Mrs. Michael do it?" I attempted to pass it to a friend at the same moment that Mrs. Michael turned around and I got caught! She told me to give her the note. I'm sure I was thinking something like, "No way Jose!" So, I did the only thing I could think of...I quickly put the note in my mouth and tried to chew it! She was quicker and made me spit it out into her hand. Gross! She read it and didn't say anything about it. Later that day, Mr. Applin called me into the classroom and told me Mrs. Michael had come to him really upset by the note. I was pretty sure that my parents would be receiving a call telling them to come and pick me up because I'd been suspended. My punishment was worse than that. Mr. Applin told me that he was so disappointed that I would hurt anyone like that and he didn't know if I could ever be his babysitter again. I WAS CRUSHED! I would rather have been suspended! Spanked, even! I was in tears, "Mr. Applin, what can I do?" He then told me it would be a good start if I apologized to Mrs. Michael. I would have done anything to make amends...but THAT was going to be tough! I dragged my feet, literally, to her room. It must have taken five minutes to go from his classroom to hers next door. It took less than five seconds to spit out my apology, "I'msorryIwrotethenoteaboutyoubeinganemptybagIwon'tdoitagainIpromise!" Out the door I flew! Truly, I would have rather been suspended!

No comments: