I'm driving to the studio on Warren Street and the car suddenly starts doing funny things. It's acting like it's going to stall and making clunky noises. The car behind beeps, so I pull over into a parking spot but the car is still going and I coax it back onto Warren. Whew!!! I make it to the studio parking lot. I know my car is burning oil and I have to keep putting in a quart of oil every so often, and I'm thinking I had better remember to put some in before I leave for home.
Go to the door and my key won't go all the way into the lock. Try again. Nope, still won't go all the way in. Try again, nope, can't get in. This is bad--- I have a private lesson and the Zumba teacher has a class as well. Pull out my cellphone......uh oh.....there's barely any charge to it. The people in the house next door are getting in their car, so I ask if they have a cellphone and could call the owner of the studio. They did and I was grateful that they had been there in my hour of need. While I wait, I figure I'll put some oil in the car. I keep quarts in the car, but barely have any left. Drip, drip. So now I'm hoping I'll be able to make it to a gas station to buy more.
My students and the owner show up about the same time. Her husband is miffed ---- jerks my key from me, jams it into the lock and turns it. He turns to leave, but now I can't get the key out. He's miffed again. Walks over and pulls it out. I tell him I had asked a man to help me the week before and he couldn't do it either. Now I'm miffed because he's angry. He tells me the key got the better of me. OK, let it go.....maybe he had a bad day.
Had the private lesson, went well and we got a lot accomplished during the hour. Zumba music is making the floor vibrate, but it doesn't bother us, we're involved in the lesson. Next hour and my students are nowhere to be found. Look at my cellphone which says I have a message. But the phone is almost dead, so I can barely hear. They aren't coming.....illness? Can't hear, so that's my guess. Since I have an hour before my next class, I change shoes and jump into the car. I only know one station that I'm sure has bottles of oil so I drive almost all the way back to the northway. Buy 4 quarts of oil (gotta stock up) and hope that me and my poor little car-car can make it back to the studio. Uh-oh....the new Zumba class has arrived and my parking spot is gone. I manage to squeeze into the one spot that's left but it's not near a light. I raise the hood, but can't see anything. I didn't remember to charge my phone but luckily I had put a tiny flashlight in my purse. I'm holding the light, the paper cone and the quart of oil when some students arrive. They've been with me a long time, just take one look and start laughing.
Now we're back in the studio and the next class is arriving. But more than half the class is missing, and at least 3 of the couples are sick with that cold/ flu/ whatzit that's making the rounds. The rest of them have gone south for winter break. That's okay, we'll just finish up our session with the couples that are here. One of the couples is having a hard time. They've improved a lot since they've started, but can't seem to manage to do it together. I walk over to help and go through the pattern a few times with him. They try it together, but she's doing her own thing. So I lead her through the pattern and I'm having a hard time getting her to follow me. Tell her she needs to back off and let him lead. She walks out of the room. I think she's just frustrated and taking a breather. Suddenly out of the corner of my eye I see her with her coat on and she is leaving!!! I run off after her and plead with her to come back, but it's bye-bye. Oh no!!! This is horrible!!! Did I upset her? I'm so upset!!! Have never in all my years of teaching had someone walk out of class. Well.....okay, there was that one time.......
I used to have a couple that were taking lessons with me. They rattled me at first, because she would suddenly stop and yell at him in Korean and she was so loud I had to stop teaching because no one could hear me. I kept telling her she had to have patience, and eventually the scoldings died down as his lead improved. But one night she got really frustrated and kicked him in the shins!!! He walked out of class and at the time I really couldn't blame him. I called her a few weeks later when they had missed a few classes. She said he refused to dance with her. She seemed baffled, but honestly, I could see his point.
I'm rattled. I feel terrible and am just hoping that I didn't say something that made her angry or hurt her feelings. Maybe she's coming down with that flu? Next class, and big surprise, some people are off and away on fabulous vacations. Not me of course, but other people. We had fun anyway, but by this time I'm not only rattled, I'm tired and hungry. Like many dance teachers, I don't eat dinner until all the classes are over for the night and I can relax, so I haven't eaten for 9 hours. The car made it home, and I was grateful to eat leftover chicken and some polenta that was hard and rubbery. Kinda like yellow cement. Put some Earth Balance on it and ate it. Hey, it's food.
Next morning I wake up and start the coffee. I flush the toilet after the first pee of the day and head for the kitchen to grab a coffee cup. But suddenly I hear water pouring!! I rush back into the bathroom to find water pouring out of the bottom of the toilet!! AAAARRRGGGH!!! Pull off the lid and the water is up to the top of the tank!! I don't see an obvious problem, so I do what any woman would do--- I jiggled the handle. It stopped!! Great, get the rug out, find a bucket to catch the water and get the mop. But there's no sponge in the mop!!! Now I have to get a flashlight and search for the replacement I know I had purchased. Finally manage to mop it all up and breathe a sigh of relief. It had been a horrible night, and it's only 6 am and has been a horrible start to the day. The only bright spot is that we've had a couple of really beautiful warm days and it was wonderfully warm when I drove home. Sipping my coffee I look out the window......there is snow on the car and the wind is whipping it all over the driveway!!!! Sigh...maybe I'll just crawl back under the covers and hide........?
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