Overtime

I am not a morning person.  And that's understating it.
But now that I am working in the same district where we live, I get an extra 15 min of sleep...and a chauffeur.  Parker, unlike his father, understands my need for silence in the morning and drives without any cheery chat or country music.  When we arrive, he carries in my ubiquitous school bag, gives me a quick hug, and he's off down the hall toward the high school.
But by 3:00 when he comes back down that same hallway, he's a different boy.  There's a pep in his step and he feels like TALKING.  Details of his day come flying at me in no logical order as he messes with my SmartBoard and rattles the "helper" sticks in their bucket and rolls around in my chair before adjusting the height up and down a bunch of times. So I give him jobs to do.  He grades papers, hangs up student work in the halls, cleans the whiteboard, and straightens desks.  And I listen with half my brain as I try to make sure things are prepared for the next day so I can get the heck outta there.
Yesterday, he didn't show up.  I vaguely wondered where he was, but figured he had decided to pester his dad for a change.  Then I got a text informing me he was hanging out in another teacher's classroom with her one-year-younger daughter. I smiled and texted him back that I was ready to GO and to meet me in the car in no more than 5 minutes.
This morning on the way to school, I reminded him that we had to pack and be ready to leave town when Dad got home from basketball try-outs, so I would be ready to leave school early and he better get down to my room right away.  His face fell a bit.
"Is there something you need to do after school?" I asked.
He shrugged.  "Me and Cute Girl (name has been changed to protect the innocent) were gonna hang out in your room after school."
I sighed.
And that's how I ended up staying 15 min later than I wanted to at work today.  My plans were all done, my copies all made.  I was ready to leave...but I shuffled papers and checked my email one more time so Boy and Girl could play a kiddie game on my SmartBoard, giggling and showing off and being teenagers.
Maybe it's because I launched into parenting before I was done being a kid myself, but I can't NOT remember how it feels to be a teenager.  How exciting it is to be with someone who thinks you're cute.  How you want to just hang out forever doing nothing.
As much as I may hate every minute spent at work, I love every minute spent watching my kid be happy.  Even if it means working overtime.