1. August has been a rough month for CA. Because of that, in tern, it becomes a little bit of a rough month for me. He spent a week in South Dakota for work, which is not the most exciting state in the Union (I'm sure it's not the worst, it's got the Badlands and the Crazy Horse Memorial which looks like the most amazing thing in the world and Mt. Rushmore--so lots of carving) and worked very hard whilst there. He also spent two weekends away visiting sick (and in one case, now deceased) grandmas. And now, this past week, he's spent time at a wake and a funeral. I'm not always sure how to support him. And next weekend on Saturday, I am flying to Houston for a Bachelorette Party (in Galveston, which should be fun...including a margarita machine. Delicious.) And the FOLLOWING weekend, we're both going down to Houston for the wedding (which means that I have to book a hotel...we've got everything else done though. And I've got a HOTT [yes, with two Ts] dress for the reception [which is too scandalous for the church, so I have to find something to wear...] with amazing shoes to match).
I wanted to go down for the funeral with him, but there were fundamental problems with that. 1. I have not yet met his parents and I don't want his mother's first memory of me to be etched alongside her mother's funeral 2. It's the first week of school and it would have been incredibly disruptive for me to leave; I'm already protective of one of my classes (the one I designed). So, this entire time, I've felt incredibly guilty about not being there and not being able to support him.
I love him, simply. There is nothing simple about that, really, though because it means such a complexity of things. It means trust and responsibility (so much of adulthood, really). It means little things too, like a person to share all my books with and a place to hide my cold feet. It's a communal pronoun. I love the way that when we take pictures, he actually doesn't look like he wants to be anywhere else.
2. This first week of school was incredibly overwhelming. Last night, I had plans and literally went home and collapsed on my couch. I cannot understand why I'm so tired. It might be that performing the role of "Ms. R" is difficult. I constantly have to be on, I cannot show disinterest...they're sensitive, so much more sensitive than I had initially anticipated. It's strange to teach more than 1 section of the same class; I feel badly for the children I teach to first. I learn so much more about how to present information the more I do it. I do it differently a little bit each time too.
I don't know why it's been overwhelming. There was much to prepare and thinking about several different classes from scratch. I do love my new classes though, and I do love teaching history. There's much more art to it (art in the "fine art" sense, and also in the skill set sense). My new class is also incredibly exciting. They began their "big questions" unit. One student wrote on the board: what is the voice in our head? Another student responded what if the voice in our head is God? And the final student responded But if it's God, why does it tell us to not do the right thing? To which someone else asked and drew and arrow what is right? Is there an absolute right?
These are sixth graders. This is where their thinking is. It's incredibly exciting.
3. I haven't done laundry in eight weeks. It's going on right now. That's very good. In other "good" news, I'm realizing how easy it is to save money simply by not buying coffee every morning. I've already saved 50 bucks since the start of August. I love it.
4. Finally, other thing that I love, although I am not a supporter of "reality" shows, I watched the season premiere of "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader" and it's been on for 3 years. They've never had a million dollar winner. The did tonight. It was a Georgia School Superintendent. And she's giving the money to Georgia state schools. I love it. Bully for school. She won on who the longest reigning British Monarch was.
In case you were wondering, it's Victoria.
Anyway, I'm going to get it together. Soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment