Nerd alert!

Happy Ides of March!

So, get this: before I was a shoe fiend, I was a Latin geek.

For.Six.Whole.Years.

And because of that, I will never forget the Ides of March, Julius Caesar or the didn't-quite-make-it-out-of-Ancient-Rome catch phrase "Alea iacta est" (translation: The die has been cast. Creepy, right?)

The funny thing about learning Latin, is that it's a dead language. There are never new words or phrases. You don't speak Latin. It's not something you brush up on before a big trip.

So while everyone else was taking Spanish and Italian (you know, languages you can actually use), I was learning how to conjugate verbs and chanting "sum, es, est, sumus, estis, sunt!"

(Not exactly the stuff that gets you asked to the Junior Prom)

But in the midst of nerding it up Colosseum-style, I had a really, really great teacher. Who loved her job. Looking back, I'm a little jealous that she had found her calling in life, went after it, and loved it.

Case in point: Mrs. B knew everything you could know about the Latin language. She also knew she wanted to teach Latin. Her husband? Also a Latin teacher (what are the chances?). Even more incredulous, was that they named their daughter 'Julia', after Julius Caesar.

And, perhaps her most endearing quality, was that she could put her entire fist in her mouth.

(Try it, it's really hard!)

So this post is for Mrs. B, who taught me that Pius Aeneas was a real stand-up guy, Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD, and that it's possible to have a job that you love doing.

Even if it's dead.