For Them

It's exactly 11:16pm on a Monday night. The last thing I should be doing right now is blogging. But, the fact is, I don't have a free moment between the hours of 6:00am and 10:00pm these days. It's always like this in the Fall. Only, this year, it feels like it's ten times worse.  Between teaching, coaching, sponsoring the Journalism class, being in charge of all the pep rallies, managing the TV's around school, planning the school trip, being a mom to a toddler pretty much on my own most of the time, and being extremely perfectionistic in everything I do, my plate is full. Like, running over the edges and spilling out everywhere full.  I am one of those people who lives by the motto of "Go Big Or Go Home." Literally. If I don't think I can accomplish a task perfect and to the biggest vision possible, I simply don't do it.  That's why there's so many tasks unconquered around my house. Or, at least, that's what I tell myself.  Point being, I can't just do an "okay" job at any of these tasks, so I am burning both ends of the clock these days, insisting on outdoing myself in whatever task is in front of me.  At this point, I am just counting down the days until I leave for Rome. In exactly 2 weeks, 4 days, I will be jet setting off to Rome for five days child, husband, and student free.  Bliss. That's what I call it. Pure, uninterrupted bliss.

Tomorrow I have a presentation at 8:30am. I might have forgotten about it until about 9:30 this evening.  Not because I'm unorganized. I'm so far from that. Rather, because I worked until 7pm tonight, came home, fed my little, bathed her, read her a book, and began working on this...

If ever asked what I dislike most about my job, this would be it.  Honestly, it's really the only part of my job that I even slightly dislike. I love teaching. I love my students. I adore my cheerleaders. I love my summers and holidays off. In the end, I even enjoy the challenge of taking on more tasks than one person can sanely handle. But grading essays, I. DO. NOT. LOVE. GRADING. ESSAYS.  This should be the work of prison inmates and not the ones in for petty crimes. Reading upwards of 100 mediocre middle school personal narratives should be the work of the hard core lifers.  The ones who will never see the light of day again.  Torture, I tell you. Pure torture.

I would be long done by now with all my work if I had a child that slept. Laying in my bed right now, she looks so peaceful. Little would anyone know what it took to get there. Let me condense it for you into a short, bullet pointed list:

• Two meltdowns
• One visit to her room to think about her actions
• One book
• One sippy cup of chocolate milk
• One baby doll, a monkey, and a bear
• One blankie belonging to Chloe and mommy's blanket
• One couch
• One fall to the ground from the couch
• Half an hour of wailing post fall to the couch. HALF. AN. HOUR. PEOPLE.
• Daddy's spot in the bed
• One wake up from daddy's spot in the bed once again wailing
• Finally, ah....peace. Silence....at 10:35pm...

And, on that note, I'll say this. Tomorrow, I'll be tired. Remember that stack of papers a few paragraphs up? Yeah, I will be attacking those in a few minutes.  I have a game tomorrow night, so we won't get home before 8:00pm at the earliest...another late night to add to the books. Be kind to me...

I do want to leave you on a positive note. I'm not one to whine and complain or even really be negative, so I don't want to close out all cry babyish.  This video makes me smile every time I watch it. We had a great group of students dance with my cheerleaders at Friday's pep rally and this little boy is just the bees knees. I adore him. He stole my heart two years ago, and he's just the best.  All my kids out there reading this: this is the owner of Fred and friends! ;)  He just has the best spirit and dance moves to boot! #lovehim

Truth be told, my students are my world. Aside from my family, of course. It's videos like these that remind me of my place in the world, why I do what I do, and why I'm still up (it's now 12:06am) on a Monday night. I simply adore them. I miss them when we have extended breaks. I enjoy their presence and those "teenagery" talks we have. I love building life long relationships with them. Doing things like this with them is why I'm a teacher. It's not about teaching them Language Arts. Although, I'd be lying if I didn't proclaim my English nerd factor, but I'm also not ignorant enough to think that at the end of the year they're going to walk away from my class remembering how fabulous that lesson on vivid verbs was...nor am I. We both walk away with fond memories of times like these spent together, bonding, being silly, having fun, and building relationships. And, that, my friends, is why I'm uploading videos of my loves at 12:10am on a Monday night...for them.

Till next time,

Lori