It's been a while since our last update over here. What've we been up to? Well, I've spent the past 7 work days becoming progressively more anxious about the start of this school year. This is the thing about me- too much preparation backfires. While I am grateful for the extra time and professional development given to us by pushing back the student start date-- the longer I wait and mull over a big change, the more worked up I get. This was the reason we planned and executed our wedding in less than three months... more than that and I would have gone INSANE. Seven work days to prepare for this crazy "virtual start" and here it is 10:30 pm and I don't feel remotely ready. Just scattered and off. I know I will feel better once we rip the band-aid off and just DO it. We will do our best and that will be good enough. No one can expect otherwise in this crazy world, right?
Some moments of this past week have felt great. I am in LOVE with my new work schedule. You wouldn't think an hour could make SO much difference. But this particular hour is a powerful one because leaving at 2:45 instead of 3:45 means a clear, traffic-free Cedar Road, and the location of my new building is 10 minutes closer to home, too. Getting home before 4, sometimes before 3:30, is a game changer for our evenings. Suddenly there is time to go for a run or bike ride, or cook a nice meal, or run errands, or sit and relax outside-- all before dinner! Pair that with the lack of evening activities and the fact that I had no work to bring home this week, and I hardly knew what to do with my free time.
Also I could used to my job being 2 innocuous Zoom meetings a day with time for some paperwork in between. Actually, it almost felt TOO easy this week. Part of my "gearing up" is excitement, to get back to the challenge and mental stimulation of teaching and reaching my special learners, to fill up my days with variety and schedules and just a little frustration. Because I do like being busy! I am just afraid I may have forgotten how to do it.
Before I head off to bed, a quick photo tour of the last week. Highlights included: A rainy-day explore of Cascade Park in Elyria, no less than five beach trips (three Edgewater, one Headlands, onenEuclid Beach), a birthday party for Ellie at Cheesecake Factory, snuggling animals and eating meals on the patio, renting the rug doctor, dinner with friends on their new patios (x2), a birthday party for Ellie's son, and lots of finagling with webcams and Zoom.
The real work of the school year starts in a few hours... Three days of distance teaching to accomplish this week. Then we have a birthday for a certain young man, and a fake county fair to pull off, and then its back to school for the kids and I expect exhaustion will hit right about then. Summer sure has lingered nicely this year, mixing with work life and letting us feel like we can have it all, even if just for a week. I'll take it.
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