Sorry I haven't posted for a whole week. Life has gotten away from me this week. I would just like one day--one day!--that everything is caught up. Housework, lesson plans, laundry, grading, reading--all caught up. I need some air.
Miss A over at Confessions from the Couch (link here)has a tag called "Can I have a personal life?" At first, I thought thank God that doesn't apply to me. You see, I'm really a homebody. Nothing I like more than be home, secure and comforted by the thought all's right in the world. I don't drink (except for during writing lesson plans), smoke, or party. I enjoy decorating my home to make me comfortable. I have one companion, my dog.
However, teaching is hard on this lifestyle. First, every time I go to the store or any where in my little town, I run into students...and their parents. I always introduce myself or have the student introduce me to their parents in Spanish. I shake hands. I smile. Then I kinda run away. The kid looks so scared I will say something bad about them to their parents. But, I kinda believe the grocery store in the frozen aisle next to the ice cream is not the place to discuss a child's faults. Besides I just want the ice cream.
On Friday, one student asked me why they never see me in Mexico. (It's just across the river. Not even 2 miles away.) I told the kid I was too busy working to go anywhere. I am up at 5 am and at school by 7 am. I work through lunch and school gets done at 4 pm. 3 preps and a TAKS preparation class to plan for. Oh, yeah, and an enrichment class I have to teach once a week. Plus, in one of my classes all the students are failing so I have to plan an intervention and write it up to cover my you-know-what. Oh yeah, I am a sophomore class sponsor and in charge of organizing everything. And I am going to Austin for a conference in a week and I have to plan something the students will actually do...for a week! I get home at 6:30 (I'd really like to get home by 5 to watch reruns of Stargate, but that doesn't happen often.) One to two hours of decompression and just breathing and it's time for bed. Mexico is not on my list of priorities.
I can't even imagine if I ran an extracurricular activity or had children. My poor dog. When I go to bed, I swear she is sighing from the boredom of her life.
I love my job and I love doing a job that is important. But, for the first time in my life I'd like to have a personal life. I like the fact that I am never bored. For the first time, my job does not bore me to tears. I'd like to just have some time to read and crochet and needlepoint and keep up with a tv series again.
Whiny post, huh. I'm am still more happy with my life than I have been ever in my life. Did that make sense? Even though I am overwhelmed with my life and work right now, I would really not want it any other way.