Thank You, Mrs. Driscoll

Life is continually presenting us with reminders that we are humans with a variety of foibles. Having been in the publishing field for over 20 years, I have long recognized the value of having someone else proofread important documents. I know what I intended to write, and my eye will sometimes overlook errors as it replaces what's really on the paper with the correct version in my mind.

My eighth grader is now a believer. Over the weekend he received a Social Studies essay back from the teacher. He'd been proud of the content, and had proofread it several times before handing it in. Well, it appears that he was right to be pleased with the substance; his grade was 95. However, there was one teensy typo that he'd failed to catch. He'd accidentally typed "shit" instead of "hit" -- and no it didn't make more sense in that sentence. LOL. One more reason to rag on my construction worker hubby for the kids' colorful vocabulary.

The poor kid was absolutely mortified when the teacher told him about it. He stayed after class to apologize, and he returned to the room later in the day to bolster the apology. The teacher was a really good sport about it, though. She knew he didn't do it on purpose, and of course kids don't excel in the honors program if they habitually do things like that. I think my son's embarrassment was punishment enough. All the teacher did was circle the word and put two exclamation points next to it.

Too bad I can't have the page bronzed, lest it be rendered illegible. But it definitely ought to be saved, in case my little writer has children of his own someday. Tee hee.