thank you b.r.

there are good weeks and bad weeks.... weeks when you would much rather stay curled up under your sweet, sweet down comforter than venture into a high school full of angsty, stinky teenagers who at times seem focused on making your morning the most miserable possible. mornings when asking a student for his cell phone leads to an eruption of teenage cackling, the student throwing his head back in a roar of defiance, his braces glistening in the fluorescent lights, and sprinting down the hallway. sprinting. down. the. hallway. me left standing there, holding my much-too-teeny coffee, wondering how long it will take before my standing next to his locker every morning drives him to the point of insanity. weeks that could really be made bearable if an attractive, attentive, and lactose-intolerant master chef was waiting for me when i got home. waiting for me with a freshly-baked goat cheese pizza, a fanta, and an insatiable appetite for peter sellers films and making out. until then.... i've got students like brandon that make that terrible week not so terrible. students who, during the last period of the day, as you're on your last leg, questioning every life decision you've made in the past six months, says "you know dr. larson.... you do a really good job." and then i stop, mutter a few somethings or other... and brandon says "you do a good job of getting us interested, dr. larson." and then a big big THANK YOU from me.... with brandon not at all aware of how his seemingly insignificant comment just made my day, my week.... reminded me of how much i dig my students, how powerful simple words can be, and how much i can't wait to stake out douchebag brace face for the rest of the year....