Cut

Well, do as I say, not as I do....  I cut myself with the guillotine cutter in the darkroom.  Badly.  In the last 10 minutes of period 7 on Wednesday.  I felt the blade slice through my thumb nail.  Then the blood came.  Quickly.  And I thought quickly, exited the darkroom, grabbed a paper towel from the dispenser, wrapped the thumb while applying pressure.  I calmly walked to my desk and sat down.  Everyone was working and I called no attention to my silly little drama.

Until....

I had to put my head between my legs to keep from fainting.  A student walking through the room asked if that was my coat on my chair then realized that the coat was me doubled over.  I rose slowly - fainting in front of students is not on my top ten of things to achieve in this lifetime - and told him I cut myself.  Well, then the kids saw what I looked like.  My guess is I was a particularly special shade of grey, as usually happens when I lose a lot of blood.  Then the concern came.  The first student offered me his Powerade to get me back to normal.  They offered to get the nurse, a band aid, and other sweet things.  I just laid there like a vegetable, but still made sure the class got on....

I had the kids clean up and waited for period 8.  As I am near reclining in my chair to get the blood back and the nausea away, one kids comes in and comment on how "chill" I look relaxing there.  Then another student comments that I don't look chill, I look...  "Grey?"  I asked.  "Yes", she said.  I told them what happened.  Well, they got right to work.  One of the kids who would send lesser teachers running scared took it upon himself to get one girl caught up (she has missed a great deal of days) without any prompting.  Another girl offered me her special sparkly mylar band aid.  The kids who were done came over to my computer to gather around while I showed them examples regarding the next assignment.  One kid asked if I had to cook dinner or if Mr. Vasa could cook it since I clearly couldn't.

Anyone who thinks teenagers are problems doesn't work with them.  The way they handled my stupidity was just so endearing.  I love my kids so much.  As it turns out, no skin was cut, so no stitches.  Hubby took me to the local urgent care and since the blade only sliced through the nail, the doc could only crazy glue the nail.  Unfortunately, it sliced diagonally and not quite all the way from one end to the other, so, that will be a hanging problem when the nail comes off.  It hurts like hell.  It is on my left hand, so functioning normally as a lefty is tough.  I feel for Millie and all the cats out there without opposable thumbs...

But here's a funny to show how sharp my kids are.  At the doctor's office, hubby kept asking me why I had to cut the paper in the dark.  "Why not cut it outside?"  Of course, he thinks I was being stubborn at work.  "Dave, they don't sell the paper cut to order."  "But why cut it in the dark?"  It took a bit for him to get that the paper is ruined if I cut it in the light.  The kids chuckled when I told them about that bit.  "Is he a little less than sharp?"  one kid asked.  Well, he's not as smart as you photo kids, that's for sure, my darlings....