Add to the list of things I get paid for:

...seeing my friends’ band for free on a Monday morning.

Ever since I first saw Shotgun Wedding Quintet, I knew that the kids would love them, and thought it was such a shame the kids did not have access to the music since they could not go to Bruno’s on a Tuesday night. So finally, I had Shotgun come perform at Urban. Brendan and Tommy freestyled (I decided that is a legit verb), Carlos did some beatboxing, Sarah and Jim played the trombone, and Justin (whom I specifically had in mind when I asked Adam if he would come perform at our all school meeting) talked to DJ Aspect for a while. In addition to Justin, a student I have never taught and rarely ever talked to before came up to me and thanked me after the show. I don’t even know how she knew to thank me.

I get such pleasure out of seeing my friends do their thing in front of my students; it’s like two parts of my world coming together, like a best friend and a lover finally meeting each other and getting along. All my friends in the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Marcus Shelby, Adam and the rest of Shotgun have made me so happy by giving me the opportunity to see the awe on my students’ faces, the same awe that I feel when I look at my friends. I am a lucky, lucky woman. I love my job.