My family and other people

Day after day, I sit in a corridor lined by classrooms in our local community college. Every Monday and Wednesday morning between 9 and 11 this semester, I'm comfortably settled on one of the padded benches by the wall with my winter coat, computer bag, purse, laptop, eyeglass case and reading glasses dispersed around me, smiling at a meme on my phone or typing away on the keyboard topping my lap. This semester, I am a familiar MW sight to all who pass. Also, as a plump, elderly person with spectacles, I probably give off mom-grandma vibes. Hence, it's not surprising at all that 80% of the people who walk through that space, look at me and smile. Many of their faces have become familiar to me as well. There's the teacher of my son's class (the reason I'm in the corridor), a short young man who smiles and nods politely if our eye meet as he's headed to class. There's the balding security guy in uniform whose face used to be stern the first few weeks but has...

One look at the caller ID and I knew who it was and what they were going to say. "I am the director of the pre-school program at the gymnastics center", said a woman at the other end. "Your son's teacher told me that he has been running around in class. It is unsafe for the other kids and not fair to the teacher. Can we try to find another day for him?" My heart sank . "Wednesdays at 4:30 or any of the other days would work", I whispered. There was a whole minute of silence while she presumably tried to find a spot on the schedule. "I'm sorry, it looks like all the classes are full. If we can't re-schedule of course we will refund your money". I was silent. My six-year-old had been so excited about this class. His sister had been going to gymnastics for years and did the most amazing things in the basement using the battered couch and their old crib mattress. He tried hard to copy her and now he was finally getting a chance to go...