the mamas & the papas

Doug coached baseball last year at PCA, and I've also told various stories about him to my classes; as a result, some of my students know who he is and will occasionally inquire as to his well-being. Doug has attended a few sports events with me, at which point he is often accosted by teenagers yelling, "Hi, Mr. Parton!" or "Hi, Doug!" depending on their level of familiarity.

Recently, at a basketball game, one of my male students, who has quite the sense of humor, walked up to Doug, stood about a foot away from him and said, "Hello, Douglas." I introduced the two of them and he asked Doug a few questions about his job. Then he suddenly asked, "Do you have Take Your Child to Work Day?" - and proceeded to ask if Doug would take him as his "child." 

Then, yesterday, the following conversation took place in my speech class:

Student 1: "How's Doug?"

Me: "He's doing well."

Student 2 (from story above): "Yeah, I'm trying to get him to adopt me."

Me: "Wait, what?"

Student 1: "Haha, that would be awesome! Me too."

Student 2: "Would it be weird if I called you 'Mom'?"

Me: "Yes."

Student 1:  "How about 'Mrs. Mom'?"

Me: "Still weird."

Student 2: "MAMA PARTON." 

*raucous laughter from class ensues*

Me: "Definitely not."

Student 1: "And Papa Doug!"

Student 2: "Mama Parton, can -Student 1- come over for dinner?"

Me: "Sweet, I just went from 24 to 44."

Sadly, the title didn't die yesterday, as I had hoped it would. Students were popping in my room all day today just to say hello to "Mama Parton."

Awesome.