Some stories are just too good to keep to yourself so I really must share. I have been super-busy (and super-stressed) with work lately. This semester started off in grand style with an e-mail that I received late one Sunday night from a student with some questions about online classes since this was her first online class experience. She wrote that since the class was starting tomorrow, she just wanted to go over a few questions to get started on the right foot. Tomorrow, you say? Tomorrow? Funny because my contract stated that the class started in a week from that day. Five minutes later, after feverishly looking up the class schedule online, sure enough my class starts tomorrow. The rest of the evening was a blur of typing and caffeinated beverages accentuated with some hyperventilating here and there. However, the situation proved to be not entirely bad as I got everything up and running that night, and because of the circumstances, I was extremely focused and got things done in half the time that I would have taken otherwise. So crisis averted. One win for me.

One of the major things that has made this semester so busy is that I am also back in the classroom teaching. This has meant many, many hours spent preparing lectures...not to mention the fact that I have not taught face-to-face college courses in 9 years so I was just plain nervous. My first day back in the classroom was last Wednesday. I went to the office prior to class to pick up the syllabi which I had sent to the printing department on Monday. Completely unshockingly, it wasn't at the office when I went to pick it up. The secretary called over to see where it was, and it was being printed at that moment. The secretary very generously offered to bring the syllabi to my class (in a different building) after it was delivered to the office. Not how I wanted to start off the day, but the secretary's kindness helped turn a major problem into a minor one. I then headed to my classroom, but the class ahead of me let out behind schedule. Instead of waiting around in the hall with all of the students, I decided that I would use the restroom, and just take a quiet minute before class began. This was a new building for me, but lo and behold, I happened to stumble upon a restroom with the classic sign of a little person but with "Staff" written on it, outside the door. Fabulous! So I entered and as I was coming out of the stall, I nearly run into a man coming into the bathroom. At this point I'm thinking either I teach at a very progressive college, or I'm in the wrong place. So, I turn the corner to wash my hands, and the aforementioned man is standing at a urinal!! I hightailed it out of there (luckily hand sanitizer was located just outside the door). Then I looked around to confirm my folly, and sure enough, two doors down there is a sign with a person *in a dress this time* with "Staff" written above it. Awesome. And with that, I went in to teach my class (located just across the hall).

To complete this experience, I must include the retelling of this story to both Carl and my sister, Suzanne. First, Carl. When I told him about my experience, he first gave me a refresher on what the "boy" picture looks like compared to the "girl" picture. So, so helpful. I told Carl that the teacher clearly teaches in the same building at the same time as I do, so chances are I will run into him again. Carl then asked if I would recognize him if I saw him, to which I immediately replied, "I didn't look at his face!" This, in turn, set Carl up for the comment, "Well, could you identify him otherwise?" I thought that I might never stop laughing.

Then, you have my sister, Suzanne. To properly set this up, you have to know Suzanne. Things happen to Suzanne that you couldn't make up if you tried. For example, my absolute favorite "Suzanne story" is when she tried to give a homeless person her coat and the offer was kindly but adamantly refused - just classic Suzanne. So when relaying my tale to Suzanne, she responds, "Well, it must run in the family because I walked into the men's restroom at Church on Sunday". She walked in to find both a man and his son already in the restroom; so she excused herself and walked back out to find a man (an usher possibly?) in the hall. He said, "I was going to tell you, but I thought that you might have had a child in there or something..." Trying to save face, Suzanne says, "No, but isn't the women's restroom typically on the right side?" I love it! It wasn't her fault that she walked into the wrong bathroom, it was their fault for putting the bathroom in the wrong place! When I told her that some of my students must have seen me go into the wrong bathroom, she had an answer ready and waiting: "You just tell them that you are breaking down barriers one door at a time!" It doesn't get any better than that.