An Embarrassing Moment

The first course I took at Ave Maria was literature. I love to write so I thought Literature would be a good place to start in improving those skills. For that my teacher was a nice woman but she was a bit eccentric who liked everyone of her students to follow her commands. I was older than the students so I ignored most of her eccentric moments and followed her rules to the best of my ability. She was very gracious and understanding of my handicap and worked with me because I responded very seriously to her guidance and teaching, trying never to use my handicap as an excuse not to learn or achieve. Yet, sometimes there is no escaping from my handicap - try as I might. There are some things I just cannot do. I'll give you an example of what I mean. One day during Literature class we had to read from a chapter of Paradise Lost because she was trying to show us that there was a poetical rhythm in Milton's writing style. So she wanted to read it pausing only at semicolons and ending only at colons or periods. Well, the semicolons were few and far between. Sometimes you had to read for lines without stopping to take a breath. When she asked: Who wants to read? I let all my classmates get called on first. But eventually the buck fell on me when there was no one else to turn to due to the small size of the class. My teacher could tell how hard it is for me to breathe and for that reason I never would volunteer to read aloud. However, she was desperate to have a reader so I accepted the challenge. Well... I started reading! lol. Not the way she intended it to be done but... Anyway... I stopped to take a breath at a comma instead of a semicolon. Well... She corrected me and told me to keep going, not realizing my plight at that moment. My friend who was my aide looked at her and quietly made it apparent to her that I had to stop to breathe. It wasn't that I didn't understand the concept of what she was saying - I did. I stopped because I needed to breathe. Needless, it was quite embarrassing for the teacher and me. It was embarrassing for her because she scolded me for something that I had no control over. Yet, it was embarrassing for me because I wanted to follow her instructions precisely, but circumstances would not have it. Oh well! As my brother would say: "That's life!"
At that time I was sitting in my old chair which I had outgrown and it was very uncomfortable. The back of the molded seating system was molded wrong and caused my left rib to rest on my left hip. This made it very difficult to breathe; therefore, getting enough air volume to speak many words consecutively together was nearly impossible! So, I understood what she wanted but couldn't implement her wishes in the way she wanted me to. I wish I could have....but it was physically impossible.