My Alanis Morissette Moment

My high school counselor said it would be unlikely I would graduate. I went to an expensive Catholic high school and it would be in poor taste for me to post the school and the counselor’s name, but I’ll say the school does share the same name as a popular book of world records and Irish stout beer. Make your own Catholic joke about that.

After it was evident that I was going to graduate, my counselor said I would probably not make it into or be able to graduate from the University of Oklahoma. She recommended Junior Colleges but I was already influenced by Adam Corolla’s idea that “Junior College is just High school with ash trays”.

I went back to visit my favorite English teacher from High school, Mrs. Vicki Paque, in 2006 after receiving my graduation ring from the University of Oklahoma and my certification for secondary school education. She was walking down the newly constructed cafeteria with my old counselor. I was happy to share the news with each.

In 2008, completing my first year as an educator, I received a phone call from my old high school:

“Hi Josh! This is __________ from ________ __ __inness High school. We
want to talk to you about a teaching position with our English department for
the 2008-2009 school year.”

I wanted to throw in some cliché expression about how ironic all this was but frankly, I don’t want to sound like those blowhard Chicken Soup… books. Really, Nelson from The Simpsons fame said it best: “Haw-haw”.