Road Apples: say goodby to romeo

January 18, 2006

say goodby to romeo

Click to enlarge.

A teacher could not ask for a nicer group of students. I have between 25 and 28 students at any one time. Some come for a semester; other stay as long as four years. The charismatic young man in the middle of the gaggle of girls in the photo above is the current class Romeo. He will be nineteen in May.

A lifetime, four kids, two wives, 5 mortgages, eight automobiles, three dogs, one cat, and an assortment of pets ago, I would have been happy to follow this guy around just to have a chance at his cast offs. I was not in this fellow’s league when I was his age.

I love his excuses when he does not show up for school. "My girl won't let me get out of bed, dude."

So being a much more mature male and his teacher, I say things like, "You have to think about your future and forget about the distractions."

Yeah right, the distractions.

Did I really say that? Yyyesss.

Did he agree with me? Yyyyeeesss.

Do you think he listened? Nnnnooooooo.

I call him my amigo and if I was 35 years younger, I would have been his brutha from anutha mutha, G.

But alas, he has stayed in bed one time too many and I must reassign him. By the laws of the state of Wisconsin, he now meets the definition of truancy. Rules and regulations you understand.

I will miss you dude.

Posted by roadapples at January 18, 2006 01:32 PM

You are doing him a favor, but he may not realize it.

Posted by: kenju at January 19, 2006 06:38 PM

I was a lot like him when I was 19. It would take me another eleven years before I started thinking with the head that had the brain in it.

Posted by: Clarence at January 20, 2006 02:16 AM