I am celebrating today in a sweatshirt. This is not just any sweatshirt; it is one that was bought on deep discount in June from the school where I was working on my Master's degree, in part because it was on deep discount and in part because the air conditioning in the lecture room could not be turned off and we were all blue with cold. How far away that day is now, in the coldest, darkest part of winter at a cool 9 degrees Fahrenheit, my Master's degree all completed, and the heat keeping us all toasting warm despite the weather. This is also not an ordinary sweatshirt because it is the sweatshirt I search out when I want a comfortable, cozy, happy day. That is the reason it is on today. I have come to love this sweatshirt and the way it feels. I searched out this sweatshirt with this exact feeling in mind.
This is significant because tomorrow I go back to work. There have been stressful times there, Internet, and it has little to do with the 175 teenagers I see every day. Hard to believe, isn't it? While every job has its stresses, we have gone through budget cuts, layoffs, pay cuts, new administration, extended hours and increased class sizes - all of this since the school year began. So, even though I love what I do, it is hard to get up some days and face it with a smile. Tomorrow, 5:30 will come all too early. However, always moving forward.
My husband has started putting walls up in the basement in an effort to organize some of our space. I am inordinately happy about this progress, and in a few days he has managed to close in a storage area, a place for a bathroom, and his workroom. We are storing some things for a family member and all of those things filled up the bathroom to be, which got them out of the main area and made me, well, inordinately happy. Anyhow, the bathroom is not going to be finished off in short order so I am happy it works out to hold the other things. A few pieces of drywall and I won't even know there are things stored downstairs!!! So, as the new year begins, I am thrilled that we are moving forward with some basement organization.
My daughters are plowing ahead. Mary is 5 and got a loose tooth for Christmas. She is thrilled! Emma, in an odd coincidence, discovered (on Christmas day, no less!) her adult tooth poking through to begin filling in the large gap she has right in front of her mouth. With the New Year, Emma's 7th birthday is right around the corner. Every day she looks more and more like someone else's kid and less and less like the baby I once had. It looks like saying goodbye too 2009 is akin to accepting the changes and challenges that are inherent in moving forward.
Today, for a minute, I am going to enjoy the last day of vacation. Sure, I've left some lesson plans to the last day - who wouldn't?? And yes, I have to go out into the freezing tundra to do some grocery shopping for the week. Tomorrow I will be glad to see my students and hear their stories about sleeping in and family meals and other fabulous tales of what we enjoy most about time off. I will be glad to laugh with my colleagues at the copier and in the hallway. I will smile to see my girls get off of the bus and recount what all of their friends got for Christmas. I will be happy to chat over dinner with the family about things that happened during the day while we were all at our separate lives. I will even be glad to put on my work clothes; the smooth dress pants, the fitted button down shirts, the pretty necklaces and matching earrings, and even the cute little heels that click on the tile floors. The Concordia sweatshirt from today will be relegated to the closet shelf for another, different kind of day. Tomorrow, I will need to be moving forward.
Welcome, 2010!
