Monday, October 27, 2008

on being late


as i was walking to school this morning at my customary time of 9:15, i had some thoughts (i seem to do a lot of thinking while walking to school).

what you need to know is that my first class begins at 9:00 and lasts only 50 minutes
what's more, i really enjoy that class.
it just has the misfortune of being my first class, and no matter how hard i try, i cannot seem to be on time.
i've struggled with this for as long as i've been responsible for my own arrival times.
my punctuality-loving photo teacher john has told us on many occasions "if you can't be on time, be early"
i've tried to implement this. i've tried waking up earlier, showering at night to save time in the morning, combining scripture-reading time with breakfast-eating time, setting a second alarm that rings twenty minutes before i need to be where i'm going (which is approximately a ten minute walk away) all to no avail.
this consistent lateness has caused some of my kinder teachers to applaud me when i manage to arrive less than five minutes late for class.

it seems i'm cursed.

now, if you're wondering what all this has to do with the beautiful lady in that picture up there, i'll tell you:
that is my grandmother's aunt (which i think makes her my great great aunt? not sure...juli, a little help?) in any case, her name was madeleine, and she was really close with my grandma. her first husband was killed at verdun during world war i, she re-married a veteran officer and left her dear lorraine (the region in easern france that was involved in a perpetual tug-o-war between germany and france from about 1870-1945, and where my paternal grandmother's lineage goes back centuries) to live in dakar, senegal, where he was the governor of french west africa. he was tried and imprisoned after opposing general de gaulle's invasion of dakar, and later died.
the point of all this is that madeleine faced alot of trials and losses, but from what i've gathered she was an incredible woman. i never knew her, but my grandma talks about her all the time (my grandma is the little girl in the photo), and i've always felt really close to her for some reason. i've been told we have alot in common, and a couple years ago i learned that one of those qualities is tardiness (there are some great stories about nearly missed trains and the like).


so it seems that being late is my heritage, and i suppose in that case, i'm proud of it.

1 comment:

Tom and Juli said...

You're right, great-great Aunt. Good job. I've heard the best way to cure tardiness is to marry someone who's always on time. Too late for that I guess =)