Today I had to step where nobody wants to go – calling hours for my dear friend, Bill Faucette, who died on Sunday.

Bill and I taught next door to each other for over 10 years. Along with Mary Ellen and Dick, we shared a big old basement room that had been partitioned off into 4 smaller spaces. Along with limited space and unruly kids, we had to tolerate cockroaches and rusty water. We were a little bit isolated from the rest of the school, so we bonded together with coffee every morning and doughnuts on Fridays. Heaven help you if you forgot the doughnuts when it was your turn. We shared copy paper, teaching strategies, and plans for the weekend.

But most of all we shared laughter. That’s what got us through some difficult days. My favorite memory of Bill is of the day he found a single ladies’ red high heeled pump in the hallway. I guess it was a stray from a clothing drive the school had. Well, Bill got a lot of mileage out of that shoe. He went around to all the classrooms with female teachers posing as Prince Charming, looking for the lucky woman whose foot would fit into the magic slipper. The kids loved it and so did we. We laughed all day over that.

Laughter might not make you live longer, but it sure makes you live better.

Day 21: 11,002 Steps    YTD: 182,259 Steps   Goal: 198,000 Steps