I have a thing for windows. I love them big, small, curtained, shuttered, and naked. I don’t even mind them dirty, as long as I can still see out. In the summer in NJ, I loved them open so almost all of my senses could be fully involved. Here in Florida we open them in the winter for the same reasons. A little confusing at first, but I’ve gotten used to it. I just LOVE windows, which has brought me to this conclusion…I am a ‘windoholic’.

In case you couldn’t tell, I made that word up. I had to drop the last ‘w’ because it just looked weird, but I digress…

For the past almost ten years, I’ve taught at a home school ‘school’ at our church. Kids come on Tuesdays for 4 periods of classes, go home, do the assigned work, and come back the following Tuesday. I teach all 4 periods both middle and high school English and History. (What else?) For all of the years that I’ve worked there, I’ve been in one of two rooms both with a full wall of windows. In other words, I have always had a ‘Room With A View’. Others have not been so fortunate. There are a few rooms that we’ve had to use that have all of the qualities of a cave with fluorescent lights. They’re pretty bad and were purposely delegated to the teachers that only had one or two classes. I believe this was done to protect their sanity.

This year they’re doing a ‘little’ construction at our church for our Children’s Ministry wing. This is also the wing that our English, History, Speech, and Math classes meet in. It looks like Demolition Day on Fixer Upper. Paint is going up, walls are coming down, things are rearranged, including our rooms. Our school Administrator is a very smart lady. She warned us that we would all be moving around due to construction, but only hinted at the room I might have. I like to think she did this to save me from myself and the ‘agita’ that would, no doubt, follow. She knows that, for me, a room without windows is like a day without sunshine…literally.

When I received the list for room assignments, my eyes raced down the list…

Roxanne Chin – 207

Room 207 – that dreaded room nicknamed the “LAB,” not quite a cave with fluorescent lighting, but pretty  close. I called my brother who works at the church to confirm my suspicions. Suspicions confirmed, I called our Administrator. She was gentle, but firm. 207 was my room, there really was no place else to put me.

I’ve been a mother for almost 37 years. I know, all too well, about kids. If Mom has a bad attitude about something, so will her kids. The same holds true for teachers, but on a much bigger scale. As a Mom, I only had to convince 3 kids that something would be okay; as a teacher the number’s quite a bit larger. So I looked for the ‘perks’ of a windowless room at the end of a hall, that people were already telling me was the “hottest” room in the building.

And so, Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the perks…

There actually IS a window! It’s a small one in a second door located in the back of the room. It only leads to the hallway, but it does exist!

The church has a couple of oscillating fans!

The “Girl’s Room” is less than 10′ away. Always helpful when you sometimes have only seconds between classes to “go.” This also makes carrying my very original hall pass  much less embarrassing for the girls, but that’s another blog for another time.

The kitchen, one of my very favorite rooms because well, the food is there; is just a quick walk through the auditorium.

I don’t have to worry about being too loud, which I usually am, because my room is pretty far away from everyone else.

No demolition in my room, just upgrades…new carpet, new paint, maybe a whale or a fish painted on my wall.

Our first day came and I was prepared to squelch any complaints from my students about the room. I was ready because I had overcome my own bad attitude. I was ready to show them what it means to be a grown up. I was ready! The only problem, my students didn’t have any attitudes.  My students didn’t have any complaints. My students, who I lovingly refer to as ‘my kids,’ were great! I should have known. They always are. Not one student mentioned the room change or the lack of windows. No attitudes, no complaints, just a very grateful, very humbled teacher who was, once again educated by those she is supposed to be teaching.

As for my room, it worked out perfectly and the windows, or lack of them, were really not that big a deal!