Because there were no parties

My husband wants to know why we have all these Dixie cups. Why do we have a stack of Styrofoam plates? We have extra plastic forks and spoons, too.

The reason is simple: We had bell-to-bell instruction without parties all year until the very end. We were never supposed to give students food not provided by the company that made our lunches, except after school. My only social events this school year were a couple of movies after school and a quick Christmas feeding before school at the start of winter break.

I had stocked for a regular school year and a regular year in my past included a few Friday fun times after tests were finished, especially the big tests of the year. We used to celebrate the start of winter break, too. Since I taught bilingual classes, we would pause for apple soda and snacks during Cinco de Mayo. Over Halloween, we might have lunch in the classroom with caramel apples. I guarantee readers that I was running way too scared of my Assistant Principal to even ask for that caramel apple day at the end of October. At that point, I was actually thinking seriously of quitting because of his nonstop criticism of damn near everything I ever did.

Eduhonesty: I’m still processing this year. But if readers are curious, that’s why we have a few months worth of Dixie cups in my cupboards.