Lessons to be learned from Romeo and Juliet: the ballet

I just returned from the best ballet I've ever seen. It was beautifully done and very enjoyable. It was also based on my favorite play: Romeo and Juliet. By favorite I mean I memorized the balcony scene (both parts) when I was 12. I made my family and friends reenact the play (my own version) on video (with costumes) for my 9th birthday. I was Romeo and was directing even while dead. I was in Romeo and Juliet my senior year in high school (as the Nurse). I really like it. But tonight, as I was watching the ballet, I wondered why I like it so much. It doesn't seem like my kind of story: fickleness in love, tragic endings, miscommunications... so here are some life lessons I garnered from my more mature perspective on this story:

1) Hasty decisions are seldom good ones.

2) Angry men with swords are a bad combination.

3) Communication is key, especially when poison is involved.

4) Boys shouldn't be named Paris.

5) If you think the love of your life is dead and you want to end your life too, just wait a little bit longer...you never know what might happen.

6) If you want to get "in" with your girl's family, don't kill the favorite cousin. It kind of makes them mad.

7) If your new husband is banished, skip town with him.

8) Romeo was a player. "I love Rosaline, wait, who's that hot chick?" Yeah, what's so great about him again?

9) A Pas de Deux is much more beautiful and impressive when one of the partners is dead.

10) Every girl needs a knee length, light pink, chiffon skirt to twirl in.

More things my kids have said

I was going through my papers I brought home from work and found some papers on which I've written funny things my kids have said. Here's a sampling.

1) "I had my homework this morning, but then I had too much pie and I lost it."

2) Bryan entered my class just after PE. He called to his friend from across the room, "Smell my PE shirt, it smells like a man!"

3) While speaking in a British accent, my student and I had a conversation.
Me: You sound so intelligent, sophisticated.
Her: Yes, it's like glasses for your voice.

4) "Ah the sweet smell of second period!"

5)Me: "I've been to every one of Josh Groban's concerts in Southern California...but I'm not obsessed. Not like some of his fans."
Kevin: "Like the ones who go to every concert?"

6)student 1: "Arnold Schwarzenagger, who's that?"
Me: "He's our governor and a famous actor."
student 1: "Really?"
student 2: "Yeah, he's from Germany."
student 3: "No, he's from Australia."
Me: "He's from Austria and speaks German."
student 1: "Is Austria the same as Australia?"

7) "Insurance money is good motivation for murder, you know."

8) An: "If chocolate releases endorphins and exercise releases endorphins, why can't people just eat chocolate?"

9) Me: If you say "Youler" instead of "Oiler" other mathematicians will laugh at you.
Anna: Where is this math community you speak of?

10) Ty: "Do you ever even think bad thoughts?"
Me, dripping with sarcasm: "No, my mind is as pure as the driven snow."
Nicole: "I believe it Ms. Dempsey. You're like a saint. You're like the Virgin Mary!"
Me: "Thanks?"

People who don't understand why anyone would want to teach Jr. High just need to see this snapshot of my life with these kids. I never stop laughing.