By The Time Friday Rolls Around, It’s Best To Laugh

Daughter Riley was selected as one of the Students of the Month at her middle school.  The administration kindly acknowledges a group of kids each month who achieve the status of getting no negative remarks on the nomination form that goes around.  It’s rigorous.

Lots of kids get recognized throughout the year and the school does a bang-up job on donuts and coffee for a seven-minute presentation of certificates at 7:45am.  Of course, now that I’m a “work-in-my-sweats” Mom, I took the occasion to dust off the good Ann Taylor jacket. I want to do my best to embarrass Riley at these kinds of events.

Excellent Principal called each high-achiever up to the podium one by one.

There in the midst of the final group, was my daughter, and eight other middle schoolers, who had each sloughed with stifled-smile toward the Principal to accept their handshake and certificate.  But what’s this? Amidst the crowd, the same handsome kid who was lobbing F-bombs and other lewd comments into daughter’s cell phone via text messages that finally got her texting blocked indefinitely. (It’s back on now, by the way. We learn as we go, right?)

There they were, students of the month.  Adorable.

I laughed at the rapid-fire images that flew through my head of channeling Claire Dunphy, dramatically standing to object, or grabbing his shirt collar and aiming him at his proud dad, or just subtly tripping him as he approached the podium.

But fear not, all ironies would be resolved beautifully when the Principal directed the Award Recipients to line up against the wall and hold up their certificates.  I couldn’t resist asking them to “now turn to the left.”