She came home and told...no wrote me a sticky note and stuck it on the tv that P had pushed her and that she was afraid for her violin. When I saw something about her violin, crazy mommie mode began to boil up inside me! Mind you this was at 7:30 am on morning and we had to leave to get her to the bus at 7:45am. Well I demanded she tell me from start to end what was happening. It is very hard for kids to get the story out and finally after 20 minutes of going over it again and again I got the jist of it.
She and 3 other students had left their math books in their lockers. The teacher sent then to the hall to get them. B was one of the students who forgot the math book. They were in the hallway getting their books when R who is in a grade higher came out of her class and walked down the hall. Apparently B and R are friends or were friends. dirty Fila knew this and asked B why she did not speak to R and proceeded to tell her she was mean for not speaking to R.
They went back to class. Now all of a sudden B is mad at dirty Fila for saying that she was mean for not speaking to R. Fast forward to the next day. P enters the picture. P is a transfer in from another school. She is about 2 years older and bigger than anyone in her class. She had problems in her other school so she was transfered into the school that dirty Fila attends. dirty Fila attends a school for the gifted and talented and it was a long time with a lottery system to deal with before I could get her in. dirty Fila had been in the gifted and talented class since kindergarden and she is in the 6th grade now.
P is not in the catagory of being gifted and talented but there she is...in the school anyway. P is a bully. She is friends with B. B must have told P about interaction at the locker with R and B not speaking to her and firty Fila saying she was being mean.
In the hall changing classes, dirty Fila is approached by P and is pushed on the staircase. Luckily she was on the landing between floors and did not fall down. She pushed her in the back. dirty Fila did not do anything in return but 2 other girls who were with P grabbed P and held her until dirty Fila could get out of reach. She yelled to dirty Fila as her 2 friends held her that she was not afraid to break dirty Fila's glasses. She said that was what she did at her old school...she broke the glasses of all the kids she got into fights with.
Do you see why crazy mommie mode was necessary? The more I understood the madder my shoes got. Then the part about the violin came out. I have played the violin since I was in the 4th grade. I actively stopped playing after my 2nd year of college. I have been in the city youth symphony in addition to taking private lessons until my 2nd year in college. dirty Fila is playing my violins. Yes...more than one...my mom just knew I was going to be the next Regina Carter. Those violins are old now and what I consider family heirlooms. They will be passed to any kids that dirty Fila may have one day..hopefully. I am like her personal tutor at home. I help her with her practicing.
Well the pushing on the stairs happened about mid morning. dirty Fila did not tell any teachers about what had happened. Strings is the last class of the day. B is in her class. The violins are dropped off to the strings trailor in the morning by all students so they do not have to haul them around all day. When she dropped her violin off that morning just before B did. She said B was the last one to leave the trailer. When dirty Fila got to strings her violin case was not in her allotted area. It had been moved from her labeled cubby. The case was open on the floor and her violin was upside down in the case...face down...strings down in the case.
I looked down and my shoes were red! Hoodlums! Vandals! If her violin was going to be vandalized someone would be buying her a brand new one. She is not like all the other kids who are renting. My mother paid for those violins so that they would be mine! I got dirty Fila on the bus and told her I would be going to the principle that morning. Unannounced! dirty Fila told me not to go into crazy mommie mode! I just looked at my shoes.
I called into work and told Classic Court I would be late. I drove myself to the school and had a conference with the principle. I was proud. I was able to keep the crazy mommie to a minimum. I did make it perfectly clear that her violin was in serious danger of being vandalized and I would be presenting the school with a bill for a brand new violin. In addition, my child was being threatened by a bigger, older bully, flunkie and that if her glasses are broken and she is hurt lawyers might be knocking at the school door! The principle said she would address the girls and the string teacher about the security of the violins. After 2 days it was finally all worked out.
dirty Fila says that P said she was sorry and had offered to be friends. I told dirty Fila to be friendly but not go out of the way. P is a bully and who knows when she can turn on her again. So far all is good and a teacher now makes sure that after the last student drops off their instrument in the morning, the trailer door is locked.
My head had stopped spinning like Linda Blairs' in the Excorcist. All is well in the land of violins and shoes.
What I do is kick them in the pants with a diamond buckled shoe!
~~Aileen Mehle~~
