Back to Life, Back to Reality

Lunch... check.
Water bottle... check.
Cute but professional outfit... check.
Switch from summer bag to teacher bag... check and check.
Confidence, poise, kind heart, and a touch of "swagger"... check... well, almost check.

I've even switched all my files over to read 11-12 and shifted my calendars ahead to match. It's always a weird feeling to see into the future, but I guess that's the life of a teacher; planning 10 months of instruction in the four days before school starts.

Bahahahaha, lolz, JK!!!!

I, like many of my coworkers and friends, have been busting our butts to get our rooms/curriculum/general awesomeness set up since well before August. This summer, for myself, held many trips into school to expand my single classroom into a neighboring classroom, which is fantastic but tiring at the same time. Add into this countless hours of trainings, leadership meetings, staffing interviews, parent phone calls, and general planning and I've worked almost a full month for relatively free.

And you know what? None of us mind (that much, anyway) because we love our jobs and, more importantly, the kids we work with. I am more excited to see my students tomorrow than I am for presents on Christmas morning. No joke. I can't wait to see who is taller, tanner, more talkative, and just generally overjoyed/overwhelmed by being back. The hugs and the smiles are my new bread and butter- they make the early morning wake-ups a gajillion times easier.

Overall, I feel pretty solid about this school year- new principal, solo job title (no more half time teacher to share my job), new staff members, a few new and... "interesting" kids... As long as I remember to keep my head above water, I think I'm gonna survive.

So, on this eve before the first day, I can't help but think of one of my favorite movie characters, Dory, and her motivational song.

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim.