water cooler

I'm a teacher. We don't congregate at the water cooler. Our meeting place is the copy machine. Today was no exception. I ran into my friend who is wrapping up her first trimester as a prego. It started as a "how's it going" quicky conversation and turned into a three-way birthing story. One thing women can always get wrapped up in is their birthing stories. I'm as guilty as the next. It's a time, one of the few, when we are truly the stars in our lives and not supporting players. The problem today was I was in line for the copier and the woman copying was deeply involved in sharing with the nervous newbie to motherhood. I wanted to chat too, share my own fascinating experiences, but I also wanted to copy and go home. I restrained myself and didn't regale them with the wonders of my two births. Finally the stories were done, the copying queue advanced, and my turn at the machine arrived.

It's funny. We talk all day to our students, but we are starved for conversation.