Bring a change of clothes, like a yoga outfit, I was told. Hmmmm, what could my teacher friends have planned for this going away party? We could be doing some good bonding all downward facing dogging together, though I feel like there's going to be twist here.
I kept getting ready as I continued to ponder the events of the night. I knew that a number of my female colleagues and I would be meeting up for dinner and drinks, and then something mysterious afterwards. Altogether it didn't matter to me what we did, I knew we'd have a blast. The people I work with, both men and women (sorry, gentlemen, you were left out of last night's festivities) are one of the reasons I will miss Jefferson immensely. I first came to see what teachers were really like when I moved to Denver and taught in Aurora, Colorado. Wow, I began to think about my high school teachers in a whole new light. Students' jaws around the world might drop if they knew what was said in the teachers' lounge.
Anyhow, my friend--and Jefferson's librarian--Belle picked me up at 5:30 to head to one of the southern suburbs to meet at the restaraunt for dinner. As we walked to the booth where the other teachers were already seated, "my older sister" Lori's face lit up as she scrambled to get out from behind the table. School's been out three weeks and she's already missing me this much. Yay, I'm pretty special. I beam back at Lori, ready to give her a good squeeze, when she rushes past me to throw her arms around a woman who turned out to be a former colleague from Kennedy High School. Hmmm, okay, so not that special.
As we settle into the booth, our table is full of excited chatter. We make it a whole 45 minutes before school comes up. Pretty darn good if I might say so myself. As Liz is recounting her summer school ventures, we dig into our fare. I sip my supermodel mojito and take in the presence of my friends. Yep, another sentimental moment. Finishing up our dinner, these ladies give each other some goofy glances as we talk about our next stop for the night. After paying our bills, we all pile back into our cars and caravan to an undisclosed location. Riding shotgun I do kind of wonder why Susie told me I didn't need my yoga mat if we were doing something yoga-esque. I shrug my shoulders. We pull up to a building that looks to house some kind of gym. Walking into the entrance Cassie bursts out, "cagefighting!" Okay, yeah, alright, cool. Now I get to show them how tough I really am. I flex my biceps (just a little bit--I don't want to really intimidate anyone here) and say, "I'm so strong." Cassie's big grin widens as she says, "You're fighting with Liz first." Gulp. I think back to all of the stories Liz has told at lunchtime about how she learned to fight as she was the baby of a big family and was often getting picked on by older siblings. Just the look on her face as she's recounted these stories makes me head to the restroom. Hmmm, what's going to be my signature move? I'm not really known for good strategy or tactics, but c'mon, I've got to have something crafty in me.
We begin to follow the instructor down a hallway and when we enter the room that we've got all to ourselves, I realize that we are not cagefighting. I'm sorry, but I can't tell you what these fine ladies had schemed up. I want to tell you, but Channel 9 News is just waiting to pick up a story like this. What I can say is that Liz Erdmann, Kristen Varpness, Julia Moe, Susan Bianchi, Belle Nelson, Cassie Harrell, and Lori Schultz have skillz that extend beyond analyzing literature. Ladies, that was epic.
It was so much fun! And I was tired for soooo long after!
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