Electrical Storm Bus Duty

There comes the inevitable portion of the school year when inclement weather plays a role in your professional development.

Take this past week when a sudden spring thunderstorm interrupted all learning activities for the day. After several hours of this, said thunderstorm transitioned into something a little more fierce -- a full blown electrical storm, regularly throwing bolts as fierce as Oden's fury itself. Of course, this all happened on the way to pickup duty when several staff members are out corralling students to the safety of school buses and transport home.

At one point during the height of the electrical storm bus duty, I unsurprisingly received the call that more help was needed out their in the midst o the storm. *Of course* I wasn't getting out of this and so I made my way to the staff closet to search for an umbrella to protect me from Oden's fury. After opening the door and scanning the room, I *of course* couldn't find an umbrella. Finally, after briskly moving items about the room, I found a toddler-sized cartoon umbrella that was much too smaller for my frame. "This will have to do" I resolved to myself and began to run a full Baywatch-style run to the bus lot to save the day.

..within 2 seconds the wind from the electrical storm broke the umbrella, turning it into a metal rod, and exposing me to all of the elements. To the appreciation of several 4th graders around me, I was immediately soaked.

Following bus duty, I approached my principal for solace or word of respite. She immediately commented: "The only thing that would have made that duty better was if you would have gotten struck by lighting"