Remembering Matt Hooper

Matt and I had adjoining rooms at AJHS for three years. We got to know each other well. More specifically, Matt learned all of the things that drove me crazy and did these things repeatedly just to see me riled. If someone sent out an email looking for a missing table, Matt would reply to the entire school, "I think I just saw Kunze walking down the hall with a table that matches that description." At faculty meetings he seemed to always get to the sign-in sheet before me. I would get the sheet, find my name, and see the signature "Turd Ferguson" next to it. Grrr. I would look up and find Matt grinning.

Matt would really get me squirming when he would deface my documents when I wasn't looking. I get a new agenda for a meeting, look at the principal, look back at my paper, and there would be a scribble across the entire page. Or a little cartoon or character would appear on my stuff. I would grit my teeth and exchange Matt's clean document for the one he messed with.

This past week at my new school, we had our second faculty meeting of the year. I was sitting next to Miriam, our computer lab teacher, whose classroom is across from mine. She's hilarious and I really like her. I was listening to my principal, and I grabbed my calendar to make note of some dates. That's when I saw it on the top of my calendar book - a little smiley face. I looked at Miriam who was suspiciously attentive to the principal's announcements, but she was grinning from ear to ear. I couldn't help but think of Matt and AJHS.