Happy day week!

It's Teacher Appreciation Week this week at the oldest's school. Presidents? One day. Veterans? One day. Mothers? One day. Teachers? A week.

I do appreciate my son's teacher. Immensely. And I know how hard teachers work; my mother was a teacher. I have no quibble with the idea of celebrating the profession. I just don't think the fête needs to be

protracted
adjective
1. Of long duration.
2. Extending tediously beyond a standard duration.
"protracted." Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1995. Answers.com 20 Mar. 2006. http://www.answers.com/topic/protracted

And I also think some things about this week are whacked. Today, for example, we're each to send in a supply the teacher needs from a list she gave the room mother. What kind of a gift is that? If a teacher needs something for the classroom, she ought to be able to just ask whenever the need arises and receive, Bam!, not wait until the right week in March and hope that particular item strikes one of the parents' fancies.