Perfect attendance...not me

Did anyone else read the story in the Washington Post about the girl, now 18, who hasn't missed a day of school since kindergarten? Amazing, I thought. Not just that she's never been more than mildly ill, but that she's never simply skipped school to just skip school. It's one of those stories that reminds me, as so many stories do these days, that it takes every kind of people, you know? . 

I was a bit more of a delinquent growing up. One time, when I was about 10 or 11, I actually snuck into my older sister's room to use her phone. We had two phone lines at the time (my father was a doctor and needed his own line) so I got on his line and called my mother. I tried to talk in a fake voice and convince her that I was an administrator calling from the school. "Due to the snow," I said, "School will be closed today."

"Amy?" My mother said.

I hung up.

It would be interesting to know, although probably impossible to find out, how many days of school I actually missed from kindergarten through senior year in high school. Unlike the woman in this article, I certainly got genuinely sick from time to time. Probably the most memorable illness was not really memorable at all, except for the fact that it kept me home from school the day the space shuttle Challenger blew up. I remember it clearly; lying in my tiny twin bed, surrounded by tissues and the smell of Vicks Vapor rub. Like millions of others, I watched and waited for the Challenger to take off, only to see it blow up right there, on live television. I sat up in bed. Did that really just happen? I wondered. It was the same feeling I'd have about 15 years later, while watching live as the twin towers crumbled to the ground.

As an adult, I continue to miss days of work due to illness, and the occassional need just to take a breather. While I commend this young lady for her impressive attendance track record, I do hope she finds a way to balance her desire for perfection with the very human need to relax. No doubt, she deserves it.