Unfortunately, her answer changed my life.

Facing a projected $90 million shortfall, the board had chosen to eliminate hundreds of teacher positions. Not only was my Austin, Texas, magnet school among those listing teacher cuts, but also, my Latin program was one of the courses slated for elimination. There it was, buried in the spreadsheet online, like a knife in Caesar's back.

There could have been no mistake whose Latin program the school planned to slash. For 15 years I have been the sole Latin instructor. Now someone had decided that my program was not worth sustaining. Wounded and slightly panicked, I called my wife, "Have you seen this? What does this mean?"

Rhetorical questions. I knew she had no idea about this. Still, at that moment, awash in uncertainty and confusion, I needed a confederate. I needed that tacit assurance my wife has so easily offered over the years. But as we scanned the spreadsheet together, we instead found new reason for concern: Also slated for elimination was one of the three Spanish teachers at our school -- my wife's job.

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