The other day I substitute taught in a middle school special ed program. One boy, named Conner had Down Syndrome but is incredibly deft at writing and math, is in the school band... anyway, I was helping him and his 'best friend' Mason with their math worksheets, when Conner decides to fill me in on one of his favorite pasttimes. He told me quite matter-of-factly that he really likes to pick his nose and eat it. I thought he was kidding so I just played along with a "OOH.. that's gross, and definitely NOT middle school behavior.." and thought that would be the end and we would get back to math. Uh, no. He then dug deep and pulled out a juicy one, and, yep, (brace yourself) slurped it right up! He then proceeded to smack his lips and exclaim...MMMmmm...Yum!! Now, there are some gross things I have seen in my lifetime, but I have to say that that just threw me for a loop. My stomach actually lurched a bit. Needless to say, he got into a fair bit of trouble for that. But the funniest part of this story is that a few minutes later, seemingly unrelated to his nasal extravaganza -- He points my nose and exclaims: "What's in YOUR nose? (meaning, my nose ring..well, I hoped he meant my nose ring...) when I said that it was like an earring except it was in my nose, he gave out a little holler -- "OOHH GROSS!!!" Yep, huh. There ya have it. I guess it's all relative.
