Week 2.25: Extraordinary

Week 2.25: Extraordinary is, again, something that is overdue on more than one front. First, it's the Featured Favorite for February; and second, it's a story I promised to my Featured Favorite, Schmee. I promised Extraordinary a loong time ago when I was still in school. I'm not naming timelines here on purpose.

She was intrigued with Design class projects and was always trying to see how she could challenge herself with the assignments I told her about. In this particular assignment, each member of the class had to make a list of top favorites. No names on the lists. The lists were dumped into a hat and pulled out, one per classmate. If you got your own, back into the hat it went. Then a creative writing session was called and we each wrote a story incorporating the list we were presented with. I got Casey Bennett. "It was a dark, cold Halloween night (his favorite holiday) and someone dressed as Ben Folds (his favorite artist) rang the doorbell...etc..." Ashley Benjamin got a list with "Shrimp" included and somehow it turned into a very frightening illness with unpredictable symptoms called: "Shrimpatitis." Remember, this was art school, not med school, People.

Anyway, Schmee gave me a list and asked me to write her story...I said I would. It's horribly overdue, but it's here in Week 2.25 all the same. So, without further ado:

"Extraordinary"

It was an ordinary day. She started her morning as she did every morning: a Purple Japanese plate with a fresh slice of Pumpernickel bread on it. The Simplicity of her routine brought comfort in the half light of morning. It always did. Stumbling through the brushing of teeth and hair, a dash of makeup and into the rush of a morning commute, she tried to stay asleep on her feet for as long as possible. This came to a shockingly abrupt halt with the blast of cold air that rushed her into the building toward her morning Americano and another day with the Kids, the reality of most days of her week.

It was an ordinary day. She corralled and calmed the Kids into their seats. And then did it again. And again. Halfway through the morning, recess and Autumn with Scarves called them out like ducks straggling behind their mother. Shrieks and spills and sun chapped skin were the natural results of the outside. Too soon it was time for her to try Making a Difference in the lives of her small charges. It felt uphill all the way most days, but she still felt like she belonged there.

It was an ordinary day. She fell into the routine and guided the Kids through the day, instructing them, asking questions, shusshing them through their Naps and daydreaming to herself of the White T-shirt and Cargo Pants that waited her arrival home. Why on earth did those kids not value the Naps like she did? Ah, well. Sleep is wasted on the youth...or something like that. Even though she struggled in knowing she belonged there, she knew she was where she was supposed to be.

It was an ordinary day. Classes were out for the day and she pointed the car toward home listening to messages on her phone from Friends and Family. “He’s a cat in a hat, in French: chat chapeau...In Spanish, he’s a gato in a sombrero! Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole!” She loved getting voice mails containing lyrically dynamic songs. What a wonderful and amazing thing to have Friends and Family who kept her knowing where she was supposed to be.

It was no ordinary day. She was no ordinary girl.

© 2010 Sarah Doty

Just in case you wondered, here are Eleven Things She Loves: Kids, Autumn w/ Scarves, White T-Shirts ,Cargo Pants, Naps, Japan/Asia, Friends/Family, Purple, Making a Difference, Simplicity, and Pumpernickel.

And here are Eleven Thing I Love About Her:
1. She calls stores: "The Fill-in-the-Blank" ie. "The Walmart" or "The Walgreens."
2. She is a rockstar listener.
3. She's never embarrassed of me.
4. She loves music...maybe even more than I do.
5. She's got a brain that does crazy things...so creative. So inspiring.
6. She made me a necklace with a fortune from a cookie in it. It says: "To be great is to be misunderstood."
7. She absolutely and totally adores old people...case in point, Connie, who works at Dions.
8. She's always trying to learn more, to read more, to know more...but she's not stuffy.
9. She's a diehard sushi fan with me.
10. She loves God. A ton.
11. She's Extraordinary even though she thinks she's more along the lines of ordinary.