I love a good food plan. For Free Pancake Day, I did my usual morning workout, showered and arrived at IHOP a little after 8. The only other time I participated in this event, was years ago when I was a classroom teacher and I’d gone after teaching. The place had been packed. Obviously that wasn’t the best time to go, but the best time I could go.
This time around, there wasn’t any wait, even though I’d brought a book with me mostly to read during what I thought would be a long wait for a table. Still, I enjoyed reading while scarfing down a short stack with a side of hash browns and one of my favorite condiments.At one point, much sooner than I expected, I felt like I’d vomit if I took another bite. I’m sure those fluffy dense pancakes expanded in my stomach or something because I reached miserable, bypassing “full.”
When I received the bill, I donated $5 to the Shriners Hospital and got the chance to fill out a cute little sign. I don’t remember if I filled out a sign years ago since a friend had met me that time.
While I ate, I saw one of my former students. Whether she recognized me or not, I kept looking at her to catch her eye, but I didn’t press it since the last time we’d seen one another, years ago, she was mad as hell at me. As her physics teacher, I did my best to get her to work in class. Most of the time, she barely passed because she’d come to tutoring in the nick of time and catch up with her work enough to limp by. The closer to graduation, however, senioritis really got the best of her.
Again, I did all the teacher things to motivate her to keep working, including contacting her parents and advisory teacher about her not graduating. At this point, I cannot remember if she chose graduated on the minimum plan or went to summer school to get a full diploma. All I know is that she never acknowledged me. At least the pancakes were delicious.