Into the valley of the shadow of Death, fearing ill.

So...today I was back in school in a Year 5/6 class. Imagine how much more anxious I was than I normally am when I am heading off to teach those ages I taught for 27 years. Talk about a fish out of water but these are strange times and the Principal that rang to ask me was pretty desperate.'They are a lovely class and it won't be full'.There was 12 of them. Apparently yesterday there had only been 9.' Who wasn't here yesterday?' I asked. Three raised their hands.'Why on earth did you come back again?''Was it because you knew I was in today?' I asked jokingly.'We were were learning about puberty yesterday,' said one of the girls.'Well thank goodness that's not on the planning today' I said, ' I don't want to discuss puberty with you lot.'One of the boys put his hand up.'Its not a question about puberty is it? ' I asked.He shook his head and said,' The happiest two weeks of my school life so far were when you taught me in Year 1'.I can't remember the last time I was so taken aback.'Well, thank you, ' I said, my voice cracking, 'that's very nice of you to say so.'The day was a bit of a doddle really, they were a lovely class as stated and got on with everything I asked them to do. It was silent during handwriting.'I feel a bit like I'm in a church.' I said. 'The only thing a teacher likes better than a class of quiet children is a classroom with no children.'I had an hour of non contact time in the afternoon while someone else took them for The Arts...then it was home time. Despite the day turning out ok it was such a relief to get out of the building again.I called in at the dentist on the way home to see if I could get an appointment. I've had a toothache the last two nights. I knew it would only get worse.It's been ages since I've been to a dentist. It's so expensive here.I wasn't expecting it but they had an appointment available in the next half hour so I stayed. It turned out the wait was longer. Just over an hour and all the while I could hear drilling and sloshing noises and the relief I'd felt at the end of the school day turned to dread once more.Eventually, I was called in by Claire, for it was she. She x-rayed my teeth and let out a concerned 'Oh!' when she got the x-ray back.'I think the only course of action in this case is to take it out.' she said.Er, what was happening? Had I not been through enough for one day?'Are you not tired?' I asked after her previous appointment had over run by 40 minutes. 'I can come back another day.''I'm happy to do it now' she said, ' I love taking teeth out.''What's wrong with you? I said, but decided to get it over and done with.'Is there someone who can hold my hand?' I whimpered. There wasn't, but she got me a stress ball to crush.I was awake the whole time but my gum was numbed. I kept my eyes closed and squeezed the stress ball as she yanked and pulled at my problem tooth. It felt like it was never coming out and when it finally did I didn't know it was out at last.When I'd woken up that morning I knew some of what was ahead of me but never saw that coming.Claire was great though even if she has a weird tooth extraction fetish.'You can keep that as a souvenir,' I said nodding at the bloody, three rooted, molar lying on the tray beside the dentist chair as I left.Even though they kept my tooth they still charged me $270. What (swollen) cheek!