“The difference between school and life? In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson.”
Tom Bodett
Back to school. Tomorrow begins another school year. Kindergarteners will leave their mommies to attend their first of many years in the education system, and Seniors will hoot and holler because it is their last year to deal with high school. The teachers have already gotten their classrooms ready with decorations at the elementary schools, names being printed neatly on desk strips of paper with apples or pencils on them. The high school teachers have been writing out lesson plans and thinking through the many state standards they have to meet with their lessons. (This isn't to say that the elementary teachers don't do lesson plans, so no hate mail, please.)
The first day of school is exciting, yet nerve wracking for me still, at my age. I don't attend school as a student, but I still get those first day of school butterflies. Crazy to have those feelings after all these years. I get them every year, though. The night before the first day of school I can't sleep, and I go through the mental list of things to do and not forget. It is exhausting. So, the first night back, I am so tired I can't see straight. This year is especially nerve wracking because I feel like I am overwhelmed with things to do to get ready and don't know where to start. I only learned a few days ago that I would be filling in full time for a medical leave for a teacher, so I am trying to make a priority list of what needs to be done just to survive the first week. There is so much to do, plus not much time to do it in considering the clean-up from the storm. Way too much on my plate right now! But, God seems to think I can work best under extreme pressure, I guess. I don't know any other way, really. I'll go on and do fine, I keep telling myself. I've done similar things before in classes I've taught before, so I'll just go with the flow. Teachers must be good at that, for all of you non-teachers out there. The best laid plans, always get de-railed into something a bit different. We teachers are used to it.
So, tomorrow morning my alarm will go off with me already staring at the ceiling (with the duct tape over the holes might I add), feeling like a zombie. I'll be wondering if the butterflies will subside and I'll go forth. I'll have teacher meetings all day, praying that my kids are doing well on their first day back. I'll meet tons of new people at my new school and remember about two names tops. Then, I'll come home and begin filling out the mountain of paperwork for four returning students I call my own. Send good vibes to the middle schooler - she is on her own in the big world of the high school. I know she'll do well, but will I? (smile)
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