Saturday, March 28, 2009

A Mysterious Parcel

Lunch time in The Staff Room sometimes reminds me of the film 'Mean Girls'. Or maybe Lunchtime when I Really Was at School, like about forty years ago.  
It's a Minefield. 
Will I sit at my desk & eat 'alone' & risk being seen as Unfriendly?
 Will I sit at Trixie Drew's desk & eat lunch with her & then risk scattering crumbs everywhere & making others Feel Excluded?
Or will I go sit in the Favoured Table in the Larger Staff Room with an assortment of People & risk all sorts of things that I won't go into now.
You can see how Nerve-wracking it all is.

On Thursday, I magnanimously decided to eat my lunch with everyone at The Favoured Table. But before I sat down, I noticed a small parcel pertly sitting up inside my pigeon hole. 
I raced over & grabbed it, heart racing.
I rarely get anything out of the ordinary placed in my pigeon hole. Pay slips, reminders about School events, invitations to attend Yawningly Boring Study Days, duty rosters, phone messages from disgruntled parents. Perhaps an occasional Rogue Chocolate given by a well meaning, but misguided colleague.
But A  Mysterious Lumpy Parcel! It obviously had things in it apart from paper! And there was was No Name on it!
I raced back to my place at The Favoured Table & began tearing open the envelope. Everyone was transfixed. Who could it be from?
Could it be a Belated Gift from that Special Year 12 Student from The Class of 2008 who I spent the whole year Selflessly Helping & who forgot to thank me when she finally walked out the door?
 That's the whole problem with being Selfless when you're really  Selfish At Heart. It Never Really Works. I guess I'm just Selflessly Selfish.

Back to The Parcel.
It contained a beautifully colour co-ordinated & presented Birthday Gift of many gorgeous earrings from Peru. Who would send me this? Someone who obviously knows my taste, whatever that is.
I opened the lovely handmade card. It was to 'Della'. 
OMG! A gift from the OtherWorld.
Lisa, a fellow Middleagedteacher, who I've never met, has been reading 'Della' for some time. She also teaches English at a girls private school in Sydney. And she loves shopping & bargains.
Trixie immediately exclaimed, 'How wonderful'. So did The Duchess. 
And that's Exactly how I felt.
But I could see that others were slightly disappointed that they didn't get a gift put in their pigeon hole. Serves them right.
I'm still trying to work how how Lisa tracked me down. I'm intrigued! And thrilled!
Thank you Lisa! You've made my week.

8 comments:

Sheila said...

How marvelous to get a package like that! What gorgeous earrings!

But on the other hand, yeah, kind of creepy that someone out here in the blogsphere found you. :)

sandrabollocks said...

Hi Della,

glad you enjoyed the gift! I love reading your blog and it was not meant to be creepy...just we do live in a small world and I'm sure we'll cross paths at some ETA or AIS inservice sometime soon and I'll def come up and say Hi!

I love how you turn a negative into a positive and yr blog always gives me a chuckle or two!

Keep up the amazing outfits!
:))

Sarah Lulu said...

Surprise gifts are marvelous ..and they are so pretty!

Della Street Dreaming said...

Sandrabollocks - don't think I thought it was creepy at all! I loved it! Trixie, my great friend & colleague said that you must have worked with Fran , whose daughter I now teach.
Looking forward to seeing you at some event soon
Thanks again!
Sue

Della Street Dreaming said...

Sandrabollocks - don't think I thought it was creepy at all! I loved it! Trixie, my great friend & colleague said that you must have worked with Fran , whose daughter I now teach.
Looking forward to seeing you at some event soon
Thanks again!
Sue

sandrabollocks said...

Hi Della,
yes indeed I worked with Fran and Grace I haven't seen since last yr but I hear she's settled in well. I know all to well the trials and tribulations of English teaching and sometimes when I see yr mind maps they look scarily like my own cept my drawings are objects of scorn by my students but so bad that they'll never forget the lesson!!
I think if you wait to receive a belated gift from one of yr Yr 12s you'll be waiting a long time. It is only after they leave that you hear about how much they appreciated what you did for them cos they're not going to get the same love and attention from their uni professors! Although last yr the school captain did give me an amzing moleskin guide book on NYC the week before my trip that was MOST useful. I do subscribe to the theory that "it's all about me" and I'm glad yr blog does too!
:)

Jane said...

Great ear-rings and I love Mean Girls. I am reliving the horror again with my 12-year-old daughter.

janavi said...

Can't wait to see how you wear these!