1. Her best friend and only family left, her mother, died last spring, leaving her lonely.
2. She chose to leave her job at a relatively normal school with a normal principal, to enter the torture chambers of R. Nixon Elementary, with Mr. Collins.
3. Her car has been T-boned, and she's driving her mom's old car.
4. Her central air in her house is broke..... and on a teacher's salary, it will take her a while to get it fixed. By the way, it is still getting into the 90's here in Florida.
5. To add to the heating problems, Mel is having hot flashes, due to coming off her med's she's used to having. Which also, by the way, leads to her sometimes over-emotional state.
6. Having gotten used to looking like a Barbie-ish model for three decades, an injury last January forced her onto Cortizone, which forced her into jeans 9 sizes larger than she's used to (I think she looks good, but I've seen the proof of what she looked like... wow)
7. No husband
8. No man begging to be husband.
9. No woman begging to be husband, either.
10. As Mel has entered the state of no mother, she's also inherited the state of no one to bail her out of financial issues. With everything that has happened to her... this is not good.
11. Mel's life has been so out of control this past year, she hasn't cleaned her house in ever. I have yet to be invited over.
12. Mel's looking at some big bills coming up, and probate (to inherit her parents' assets) will take a very lengthy five months.
and the worst reason of all, NOT to be so MERRY!
13. As it turns out, the very Cantankerous Connie has come out of her state of dormancy. Just when we thought it was safe to roam the halls of R. Nixon Elementary, Connie aka T-Rex is stomping around, spreading her misery. She's eating her teammates for lunch, she's stomping on their ideas of teaching, and she's chasing Mr. Collins around, getting him to bend to her evil whims. Merry Mel the Unfortunate, is on Cantankerous Connie's team.
It's interesting, for me to compare our timelines.
As my life slowly improved last spring, shedding light onto my depressed state of teacherness, Merry Mel's life was falling apart.
As I drove my van around the country, having countless adventures nation-wide, Merry Mel was trying to systematically adjust her life, moving into her room at N. Nixon.
As I returned to Florida, and began realizing a horrible mistake made- my resigning of my contract at R. Nixon Elementary, Mel was realizing she too made a mistake- of coming to N. Nixon in the first place.
And now, the two of us have met, become close friends, and are there for each other through it all.
I feel a closeness to her for if nothing else, this reason:
We both have too many dreams and hopes, to be stuck in the lives we are temporarily leading.
Hold on tight, Merry Mel.... something has got to give.
