What’s comin’ will come, an’ we’ll meet it when it does

The title of this entry is a quote from Rubeus Hagrid, the gentle giant from the Harry Potter books. As you will see, I owe Hagrid a debt of gratitude.

A few entries ago, I wrote about my school’s Twenty-Five Books campaign. I mentioned that, on Thursday, we were supposed to wear something that represents punctuation.

Here’s what I came up with.

Friday was “Dress Like a Literary Character” day. I dressed up as the aforementioned Rubeus Hagrid. My costume consisted of pants tucked into boots, a fleecy shirt (large enough to stuff with a pillow), a vest, and a belt (long enough to buckle over the pillow-enhanced shirt). I hung pouches from the belt, and stuck a unicorn ornament into one of them to represent Hagrid’s professorship at Hogwarts, where he teaches the class, Care of Magical Creatures.

I also wore a full-length fur coat (by the end of the day, it felt like that thing weighed fifty pounds!), and carried Rebecca’s Ron Weasley doll. A wild wig and a beard completed my costume.

Walking into work dressed like that was an exercise in courage.

I wish I had photos of the expressions on people’s faces when they saw me. No one knew who I was until they heard my voice. During homeroom, a boy was visibly startled when I greeted him by name. When he finally recognized me, he burst out laughing and said he thought I was “just some crazy Substitute Teacher.” Well, he got the crazy part right…

Some of the reactions were unexpected. I got hugs from students and staff, alike. The young man who told me I was “officially official” when I dressed up as Flavor Flav on Halloween, threw his arms around me and said, “Miss, you are awesome.”

Some people (especially students) recognized me as Hagrid, while others did not. One co-worker thought I was Rasputin. Another guessed Chewbacca. Ha ha!

By now, you must be wondering what I looked like, so I’ll put an end to the suspense.

Here’s a photo of Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid.

And this is me as Hagrid.

Here’s a shot of me with the librarian, who was dressed as Tom Sawyer.

Man, was my outfit uncomfortable. I felt the weight of the fur coat in my neck and back. And it was hot. My hair was plastered to my head under the scratchy wig. Furthermore, I was constantly plucking mustache and beard hair out of my mouth. I could hardly wait for the dismissal bell.

The last two periods of the day were devoted to a pep rally in the gym. Those of us in costume had to participate in a parade. Judges voted for the student and staff member with the most creative costume. The prize for each winner was a $100 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble.

Guess which staff member won the contest? Yep. Yours truly. The winning student was dressed as Hermione Granger. How perfect is that? Putting the two of us together made for some good photo opportunities. Bulbs were flashing all over the place.

Walking to the center of the gym to receive my prize with the sound of cheers ringing in my ears made all the embarrassment, sweat and discomfort worth it. The $100 gift card to Barnes & Noble helped, too.

Song of the Day: Follow the Spiders  by Harry and the Potters