Working Girl

The first day was sucky.

I cried, I couldn't concentrate, I moved like molasses in January (in some place other than Costa Mesa, of course...you could bake the molasses into gingerbread cookies on your porch in January in Costa Mesa). I knew there were a million things I needed to do, but I couldn't remember what they were or how to do them. And I took forever to do everything. I went to a lame meeting. I ran into the mother and daughter of the woman who takes care of Ben. The mother gushed about how cute and sweet and funny Ben was. I knew her heart was in a great place, but it killed me; and it took everything in me to not drop my photocopies, get in my car, and make Molly give him back. I was exhausted from not sleeping the night before, overwhelmed with work, annoyed with the boring meeting, and sick with missing my boy.

That was me. Ben was fine.

He didn't cry when I left (he actually barely noticed), played great with the other kids, took a terrific two-hour tear-free nap, impressed everyone with his eating prowess, and ran to me with a grin from ear to ear when I picked him up.

The second day was okay.

I got more done, one of my students from the last two years came and helped me, I had a meeting about how to get seventh graders to stop cheating and a two-hour meeting about homework, and I read one chapter of Economics. No tears; just fatigue.

Today will be good.

I'm looking forward to our four-hour staff meeting. That sounds crazy, and normally I'm not super psyched about staff meetings. But our beginning of the year one is usually fairly fun. While I've spent some time with my colleagues in the last couple of days, today I will really be able to catch up with them. I will also be finding out how many and which delightful twelve-year-olds I will be sharing my space with this year, and I will have time in the afternoon to continue to plan and prepare.

And then there's the school supplies. I'm a sucker for freshly sharpened, never used pencils and crisp, blank paper. I love sticky notes and color-coded folders. Also, today is the last day my classroom will be clean.

And I love fresh starts. A fresh set of 180 smiles, a fresh chance at routines, new ideas, and hope for learning.

Then tonight I have my date with Ben. And instead of running errands, we will hit the park and just play together.

Today will be good.