Substitution

Teachers hate to miss school.

It's true.

It is easier to be at school on a Monday with a fever of 103 than it is to create lesson plans that can be administered by any warm body in a classroom of students delighted to be reprieved from the rigors of their teacher's systematic program.

It is easier to be at school on a Tuesday with a migraine that it is to get the candy wrappers cleaned up and the desks put back in rows before the first period bell rings on Wednesday.

It is easier to be at school on Wednesday with encephilitis than it is to grade two days' worth of papers Thursday night.

It is easier to be at school on Thursday with West Nile virus than it is to respond to two days' emails, school memos, and phone calls on a Friday.

It is easier to be at school on Friday with bleeding eyeballs and two broken legs than it is to recuperate from missing a day of school.

. . . Unless, of course, a teacher has a terrific substitute like the one I had today. How grateful I am for those brave souls who step in when, despite superhuman strength, regular teachers can't drag themselves to class.

God bless the man who passed out papers, collected papers, took roll, kept order, and prayed with my class today.