Yesterday, I wrapped up a day of leading professional learning and headed to a local eatery. When I sat down, a teacher that had been in the training and SLT meetings greeted me from across the bar with a smile as she passed me the menu, “You just can’t get away from me!” She said she was a bit tired after a long week and would rather be home with her daughter. She chatted with me between preparing drinks: Her student’s house had burned down the night before, but everyone including the new kitten survived. A colleague and friend was just diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Parent teacher conferences on Thursday kept her at school later than normal. She was beaming about the volleyball game she had gone to on Wednesday because it was “a big win for our team”. My previous frustration that she hadn’t done the pre-reading before our SLT meeting evaporated in an instant.