SOL20 Slice #2: Girls Just Wanna

I am participating in the
 Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOL20).  
All participants are sharing stories about moments in their lives, writing 
 every day for the month of March 2020.
Thank you, Two Writing Teachers!

I open up my Spotify app and begin blasting Weird Al Yankovitch's "Girls Just Wanna Have Lunch." He's right beside me, chortling with laughter, noticing how Al's spoof has the same exact beat and rhythm as the original song by Cyndi Lauper.

My dear husband, how he indulges me.

He is retired, some three years now, and I am working full-time, teaching preschool. I come home in the evening bursting with stories, some frustrating, some challenging, some adorable, but always bursting. Today, I had a few minutes with the children that were laugh out loud funny.

It started in dramatic play, where I was playing with the children, and I was told - in no uncertain terms - that I was the daughter, a little girl, and that I had three Moms and two Dads. This is preschool reality. The next thing I knew, the plot had changed, and I was at "the doctor's." One preschooler was acting as the admitting nurse, seeming very professional, and working over a keyboard. She asked, "What's your name?"

I turned toward my Moms and asked, "What's my name?" Mom #1 immediately responded, "Gloria. Your name is Gloria." Which is how I responded to little Miss Administrator, "My name is Gloria." She stayed in role, and very theatrically asked, "Spell your first name for me."

I struggled to not burst out laughing, her acting was so precious.

I said, "G, L, O, R, I, A."

She asked, "What was that, again?"

I couldn't resist - I burst into my best Van Morrison, "G, L, O, R, I, A - GLORIA!"

This rendition did very little to amuse my preschool actors. They had no idea what I was imitating. This is an example of showing my age. So, I opened up my Spotify app and played it for them. To which, one preschooler exclaimed - "Oh, you should play, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" - that song is really the best."

So, we listened to that.

To which, another preschooler exclaimed - "Oh, you know what's really, really funny? "Girls Just Wanna Have Lunch!" It's like the same song, but not."

I had never heard of that song. So, I searched for it. Unbelievably, she was right, there is such a song and, of course, it's by Weird Al.

This is just one tiny example of how technology has changed our world. When I first started teaching, I created playlists in advance for the preschoolers, putting them onto a cassette tape. I had to really think ahead. Now, I can play any music I want, at any time, to support whatever bubbles up in the classroom. Three year olds are so well-versed in, and at ease with, technology, that they direct me in how and what to do.

One thing that hasn't changed is my rock-steady husband, who indulges me and my far-flung tales from school every night. I am truly blessed.


When the working day is done
Oh girls, they wanna have fun
Oh girls just want to have fun (girls, they wanna, wanna have fun, girls wanna have)
They just wanna, they just wanna (girls)
They just wanna, they just wanna, oh girl (girls just wanna have fun)
Girls just wanna have fun