Grateful Smeagol I Am

"Stotz, you look like Smeagol today!" yelled out Bryan, one of my more hilarious students, this past week.

Not surprised, I asked "Do I really look that haggard today? Is it my beady eyes or my pale skin?"

"No, your hair. You're Smeagol!"

At this I took a wee bit of offense. I said, "Come on, Smeagol has maybe four hairs smeared across his head - I have way more than that!"

We all had a good laugh and got on with class. That night, I went home and found my first gray hair. Surprised? No. Annoyed? Yes. I have sworn up and down that they will not give me gray hair.

If you're not familiar with who Smeagol is, he's also known as Gollum, a character from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and here's a picture of him...

Photo credit: lotr.wikia.com. 

Also, if you're not familiar with how a teacher feels at the end of the day, especially after teaching middle schoolers, then this picture pretty much sums it up. I imagine it's also how some parents feel at the end of the day; you're trying your darndest to keep a smile on your face, but you feel haggard, mentally emaciated, and strung out. I do, anyway. Maybe it's because I'm still a new teacher and not yet a parent.

Just prior to this little conversation in class, I had run into Linda, a parent of a different student while I was at the store. She said, "Oh, Susan, so pale you are!! You need to go manaqing!" (Manaqing, as you may recall, is ice fishing). 

I told her, "I know, I know! Tell the principal that I need to go!"

Well, yesterday, Friday, we went out on our first manaqing trip of the year. Linda was in the school and asked, "You go manaq?"

I told her yes, and she responded, "Oh GOOOD!! Make sure you take your hat and sunglasses off, you don't want raccoon eyes!" I did as I was told, but had to cave and wear my sunglasses now and then to avoid snow blindness.

Bryan ended up driving me out to Kayakutaq, about a half-hour snow machine ride northeast-ish of the village. Throughout the trip, students kept asking if I was excited to "get brown." Clearly, my paleness is something that concerns them.

After being out all day and catching zero fish, I came home totally relaxed and drunk on sunshine with blazing pink cheeks and a Rudolph nose, plus some bloodshot eyes to go along with it. 

I really do look like Smeagol today. Darn kids are prophetic!

But that's OK, because Shelly just brought me a gluten-free pizza her husband Josh made for me for girls' night, so life is great!

See, I'm Smeagol with a Rudolph nose. At least I'm a happy one!

Thanks for reading!