Last year, Adi’s fifth grade class did a living wax museum project during Black History Month. In the early days of the project, when Adi was choosing the subject of her research, she expressed her frustration that her dad hadn’t done anything worthy enough to be considered famous. I remember her saying something like, “Look at you and dad. You haven’t even done anything. I can’t even research dad for black history month.”
Well excuse me, I remember thinking. I think we’ve done pretty well with ourselves.
We clearly had not done enough in Adi’s eyes. We were too regular.
Fast forward to last night. I attended a virtual meeting on the Sixth Grade Committee for Adi’s school. This is her last year of elementary school and there are yearbooks, picnics, and celebrations to coordinate. After the meeting, I connected with a mom to follow up on one of my assigned tasks. This is not a mom I knew. In our text exchange, I mentioned that we had been at the same dance competition the week earlier.
“Oh! You’re Adi’s mom!” she replied.
I went on to explain that I’m a teacher and rarely get to go to the kids’ school. “I feel like I don’t really know anyone,” I said.
To which she replied:
Famous?!? I assured her I was not famous but the comment left me wondering where she got that idea. With all my mediocrity, I wonder if Adi has reinvented me as a world famous teacher whom she spends her day bragging about at school.
Can you imagine?!?
I forgot to ask her about this during our busy morning today (my kids’ school had a delayed opening while I had a regular start time. That always makes for a fun morning!). I’ll be sure to add any updates I uncover about my rise to fame.
Where in the World am I Writing From: Today, I am writing from my phone…in my car where I am currently stuck. I had a meeting at the middle school and didn’t realize my meeting ending time coincided with parent pickups. I’m currently trapped in my spot waiting for parents to pick up their children from school.
Where There Is Joy 
Oh, I cannot wait for the update! I mean, you are famous to me!
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First of all, there’s famous and there’s famous. At Sarah’s graduation party, I read Naomi Nye’s poem, “Famous” because it really seemed like how she lived and why she was the right kind of famous. If you don’t know it, you definitely should read it now. Second, I think she realizes how many teachers you reach through your job and your blog and TWT. so, yeah, you’re that kind of famous too.
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I’ll look for the poem!
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Here you go. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47993/famous
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I love this poem. Thanks for sharing it.
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I love it too. It’s perfect. Someday (today is not the day) I will also share it with Adi. If I shared it today she’d surely roll her eyes at me. I’m glad it will now live here with this slice. Thank you Peter!
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I love that you’re famous! You’ve done a lot in the year since your contributions to the world were questioned! (I loved that interaction!) What a great spin from one experience to another. I can’t wait to hear about the rationale.
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I love this! I can’t wait for the follow-up post to see why you are now considered famous! It is always fascinating to get a glimpse into how our children and students perceive us.
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You deserve all the literacy fame for sure!
Also, bummer about being car trapped!
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Congratulations on being a world famous reading teacher! I think you should just take the honor and run without worrying too much about hos this started!
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Adi really does love her mom! And, you are pretty famous in our district!
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As an empty-nester now, your slice took me back to those chaotic days where all I did revolved around my girls, their school events and my teaching job. You capture it so well. Then I love how the comments led me to a great poem. This really is a super writing community!
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