I am 23 going on 35
Laura Rompf
Beyond the Bubble
My life has turned out to be quite like Charles Dickens's "Tale of Two Cities."
The best of times. The worst of times.
At home over Christmas break, I became "Laura" again. My mom served as my alarm clock. She woke me up at 11 a.m. to go to my dentist appointment — one that she had scheduled.
On Christmas morning, I waited patiently with my siblings before we all opened our stockings. Once again, mine was full of little trinkets my father had carefully picked out and wrapped.
I went out to a movie with my sister, and my father footed the bill. I also noticed he had filled my gas tank.
At home in Kentucky, I was 23 going on 18.
However, reality quickly slapped me in the face as I headed back to Oklahoma City on Jan. 4. I realized I once again had to plan for my daily routine of facing high school seniors, hoping the lesson I had planned for the day would be educational and somewhat entertaining.
However, it's not the routine, the long hours or the sometimes annoying students that slapped me in the face.
In Oklahoma City, I am not "Laura." I'm "Ms. Rompf."
I cannot act as if I'm 23.
I cannot laugh at immature jokes my students make. Jokes I myself would have cracked while at home with my little brother.
I cannot stop in the middle of lecture because I'm bored of giving notes, and my students are tired of taking them. There is material to cover, and I am the one responsible to make sure that these students learn or at least are exposed to that material.
Perhaps the most extreme example I can give occurred at the beginning of the semester. One of my students warned me that she has epilepsy. This means at any moment she could have a seizure, and she wanted me to be informed.
Here's where "Ms. Rompf" comes into play.
If she has a seizure in my classroom, there would be no adult figure to turn to. No one to ask what to do, or how to control the situation.
A classroom full of 25 18-year-olds would be looking to me for an answer. To 25 18-year olds, I would be the adult figure.
Quite a change from the little girl whose dad buys her gas and mom wakes her up in the morning.
Perhaps everyone faces this quick transformation after graduating from college.
Perhaps we go quickly from seniors that frequented Corby's on Tuesdays, to adults that can barely stay up past 11 p.m. on weeknights.
Perhaps we all long for the day when our idea of responsibility was going to class — even if we weren't showered or hadn't done our reading.
All I know is that less than a month ago I was 23 going on 18 — and now I feel as if I'm 23 going on 35.
Laura Rompf graduated from Notre Dame in 2002. She is currently teaching in Oklahoma City through the Alliance for Catholic Education. Her column appears every other Monday. Contact her at lrompf@nd.edu.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
All Viewpoint Stories for Monday, February 3, 2003
