Calling Out the Elders

Ah... the first day of school.
The sharpening of pencils, the buying of textbooks, the printing of schedules... and sixty-eight people calling me ma'am, apparently.
Seriously, when did this start? Have I really gone that far?
I knew it was going to be that kind of day when, before eight this morning, mind you, a sweet little doe-eyed freshman (don't ask me how I knew he was a freshman... you know that look they have) picked me out of the hordes of people on the Drill Field and showed me his schedule.
Why me? It's not that I minded helping this child find his classroom, I just don't know why, out of all those people, I'm the one he came to. I tell myself it's because I was a Roadrunner (like he knew that), and I put off some sort of knowledgeable vibe.
Psh. Yeah, right.
We all know it's because I was the most mature (read = oldest) person in sight. He knew I was his best bet. And just to prove my own theory correct, I was, in fact, able to answer his obscure question dealing with the location of the old band hall or some such silliness.
And he was just as sweet as he could be when he smiled at me and started to trot off on his way, but not before looking me straight in the eye and hitting me with:
"Thank you, ma'am."
Is there a ma'am here? Did his mother suddenly walk up behind me? Oh, no... he couldn't possibly have meant...
me?
Oh... but... he... did.
Super.
This really set the tone for the morning, and it's probably a good thing I got it out of the way early. You see, I work in the math department on campus.
Think about it this way:
Who takes math classes?
Everybody.
Who handles schedule change requests (for all those people who waited too late to register or registered for the wrong class or can't understand what their teacher is saying or didn't know they had to take a prerequisite)?
Me.
Add these two variables together and you have this solution: wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am.
That's right.
There were ma'am's flying all over that office this morning as I took schedule change requests, answered the phone, and directed lost souls to their "impossible-to-find"-even-though-the-number's-right-here-on-the-door classrooms.
Just when I thought I couldn't take it anymore, I looked at the clock, and it was time to leave. My time was done for the day, and my shift at playing math department traffic cop could be handed off to someone else, at least for a little while.
Leaving work proved to be an extra special treat today, as, aside from the obvious, I was able to have lunch and catch up with Julia, one of my best friends from college--of whom I see far too little. We had the greatest time laughing and talking about life; sometimes I forget how much I miss her. I'm pretty sure a visit to Atlanta is going to be in my near future, for this short visit was just not enough for us.
As if I didn't just eat lunch, I'm already gearing up for a great dinner with Lindsay, and I'm pretty sure it's going to be just as great as lunch, for we have a whole summer's worth of gabbing to do...
In closing, I feel I should apologize for my rather lengthy absence. I can't even pretend that I've been busy or anything, for if you've seen my book blog or my movie blog lately, you can probably guess what I've been up to...
A whole lot of nothing, that's right.
That's all about to end, though, for I hit class mode hard tomorrow.
Bleh.
On the upside, however, my schedule will be more regular and, therein, so shall my blogging (at least in theory, anyway).
Finally, I am in desperate need/want of joining/starting a book club. Would anyone in the Starkville/Columbus/Golden Triangle area be interested? Or, better yet, does anyone know of an already established book club in this area? This is not a drill, people... I need someone to talk about books with.
Oh, God... I just begged people to talk about books with me.
I should be called ma'am.
I deserve such a thing.