Feeling Like A Celebrity At Staples

I had to pick up something at Staples this evening for school.

Parked in the parking lot, I talked to a friend from school about several different things. She's been at our school about 10 years, but she'll be leaving the end of September to take a full-time training position with our school system. She has more than 40 years in education, so this won't be the first time she's tried something new. She just plans to put her talents to use in different ways. Her son just moved to Chicago to study. Though I've passed by her the last couple days, I've barely had time to say "hello," so I gave her a call during after-school hours.

After we'd finished talking, I started walking to the store's entrance when my cell phone suddenly started vibrating. I answered it, and it was a good friend who's already left my school. I miss having her at our school, but it was good to hear that she's enjoying her new job a lot more. The ways things are going so far, she said they'd have to double her pay to get her to think about returning to what she had done at our school the last two years. It's just been a lot less stressful and a lot more positive for her than last year was.

While I was on the phone, standing to the side of the entrance, a woman and a high-school-aged female walked past and waved. I recognized them as a student I'd taught a couple years ago and her mother. I finished my phone conversation, hung up, and entered the store with two missions in mind: 1) finding and purchasing what I'd come to buy and 2) finding and saying hello to the student and her mother.

Before I made it very far, a woman stopped me. I didn't recognize her, but she quickly identified herself as a Southwest Guilford Middle School parent of a seventh grader. Her daughter had recognized me and pointed me out to her mom, and it just so happened that even though we'd never met before, this lady had wanted to get in touch with me. Someone had mentioned my name to her, and she had wanted to ask me a question. She'd planned to get in touch with me at school, but suddenly running into me, she'd decided to take advantage of the opportunity. I enjoyed talking to her and discovered that she's one of the parents we're particularly fortunate to have at our school: she's active in our PTSA and wanted to talk to me about how she could better communicate with and assist our staff members. Since her daughter's in the seventh-grade, there's a chance that I'll teach her next year, and now there's already a connection in place, which is always positive to have.

Then, after getting what I needed to buy, I stood in line, waiting to have my item scanned and to pay for it. The seventh-grade student and her mother, whom I'd just met, had also finished shopping and were right behind me, so while we waited to move up in the line, we talked some more. While we were talking, a young lady called out from near the entrance, "Mr. Floyd!" It was another former student, one I'd just seen for the first time in a few years when she had dropped by our school to visit. I didn't get to talk to her, but she had a beautiful smile on her face, and even though we didn't get to talk, it was still a positive encounter.

I made it to my car without running into anyone else, but already, I'd been reminded of just how small a world ours actually is sometimes.