Birth Class: A Modern Whodunnit?

I am glad we got to birth class yesterday, because it led to this interesting exchange.

We got to class on time, and I must say that I'm impressed with our instructor's memory. Besides remembering our names and noticing that I've gotten my hair cut short since the one time she's seen me, Jan asks how our niece's birth went and how the parents were doing, since we had talked to her briefly about induction of labor at the early bird class. Good priorities.

But then she takes us into another room to give us our official workbook (which I assumed was also to talk about the fees due in private, since yesterday was the day final payment was due) and she says the most gobsmacking thing. She asks if we got her message, and we say, no, we've been out of the house today and as such haven't picked up messages recently. She says that $100 of the class fees have been paid for us as "an anonymous donation." We both sputter a little bit and ask who paid it was, and she refuses to tell us but tells us how wonderful it is. We agree, but now we're feeling like creeps because we can't express our gratitude to those who have done this. Jan isn't budging.

In the car on the way home, we make a list of suspects and realize that most of these people are inscrutable when they want to be, so the odds of getting a confession are low. We identify motive and access, interrogation techniques, idle threats, and entrapment scenarios. I wonder if I should call Jan and double-check that she's not just giving everyone a break and trying to make us feel special or if my inability to wear socks makes her think we're financially disadvantaged and can't afford socks, let alone classes, and she's just giving us a break. (I discard this plan as being crazy.) I think about calling my hair stylist and asking if Jan does this for everyone (I table this plan until my next hair cut).

Then we realize that we're lucky enough to have a list of suspects. So we're still hunting, but we're grateful. Hopefully, if you did it, you read this, and thank you very much from the bottoms of our hearts. We're really surprised and completely befuddled, which probably delights you to no end. While I hope you're not insulted that we don't immediately know who did this ("Ah ha! It was Miss Scarlett in the Dining Room with the telephone!"), I'm almost as grateful for the reality check that we have friends and family who love us and go out of their way (and behind our backs) to do ridiculously kind unexpected things for us as I am for the gift of the classes.

We're still trying to decipher your identity. But we're also thankful.