she's done it again!

ever since i can remember, i've had this special way with teachers.

almost like a teacher whisperer, if you will.

i just flash that smile and answer a few questions on the first day of school, and it's all over. the whole rest of the school year, i have them wrapped around my little fingers. i used to walk down the halls of bonanza high school waving to the principal and high-fiving the deans in the middle of class periods without a hall pass.

these skills have come to me as a precious gift, and i will not ignore their presence. i assure you that i am taking full advantage of these gifts and am putting them to good use.

i specifically remember one beautiful spring morning when i was confidently walking to my car during our closed-campus lunch hour, and watched as Dean Taylor stopped a group of kids in front of me. he got angry with them for ditching and trying to leave for lunch, and started to escort them all back into the school with threats of detention. i was a bit nervous as i kept walking to my car, headed right toward the group of students and dean taylor. but when our paths crossed, he greeted me with a "good morning, ashley!", to which i smiled and continued on my journey to sonic. mission accomplished.

and who could forget junior year english with regina? we had to memorize a section of some shakespeare play... i can't remember which one, my mind is blanking out. just like it did when i stood in front of the class and said "honestly, ms. johnson, i'll just take the F. i can't remember this poem for my life." some people laughed, and i'm sure others shook their heads. but regina looked at me with these big, brown, hopeful eyes and pleaded, "it's okay! take your time. i'm sure it will come back to you, ashley. sit down if you need to, you can try again in a few minutes." HA! okay. i go sit down and look at my notes while a few other people go. i take another turn, read 2.5 lines out of the required 15, and managed to pull out a B for that assignment. let's just say i lost some friends after that.

i could sit here for hours and bore you with many other stories of my butt-kissing successes, but tonight let me just share my most recent feat as a teacher whisperer.

picture this: it's wednesday night. i have classes from 8:00 am to 9:30 pm and want to shoot myself in the face. all morning i heard rumors of a big snow storm expected for that night... great. a 40 minute commute turns into an hour and a half in the snow... and at 9:30 pm?! not my idea of fun. suddenly i remember my teacher for the late class (6:50-9:30) commutes from salt lake, too! and she said that if there were ever bad weather conditions, she would most likely cancel class. she instructed us to keep an eye on our inboxes during the snowy days, and promised she would let us know by late afternoon. around 4:30, i still had no sign of her in my inbox. i was starting to lose hope.

i decided to take matters into my own hands with an informative email.

maybe a little cheesy, but i'm sure it hit the spot on a busy wednesday for her stressed out, principal self.

literally less than 10 minutes later, every one in the class received this email:

"evidently i am not the only one from our class who commutes from the salt lake valley."

... as if to say "i was planning on bucking up and coming to class, but now that i know i'm not the only one making the drive, we can just forget about it!"

a strength in numbers kind of deal.

it's the little heart-warming experiences like these, my friends, that assure me i can graduate from college.