I have had many times in my life that I have walked away from saying, "If I can live through that, I can live through anything." It never fails that shortly after this time has ended and I am steady on my feet again something else comes along that requires as much, if not more, strength as I have in my power.
Today was my first day at my new school. I woke up an hour and half after I planned on (thankfully I was planning on being there SUPER early), but this meant that I did not have time to shower--helloooo baby powder and extra deodorant. I then couldn't find my make-up bag so I went to make all of my first impressions looking rather homely, if I do say so myself.
I came to campus to find out that my schedule had been changed (the one class that I literally had planned from Day 1 to Day 90 was of course the one that got scratched), I could not make any of the necessary copies for my "first day" forms, no one was sure if I was going to get textbooks for my new class, and I have ZERO storage space for my classroom's worth of teacher stuff that I brought over from Warriorland to Wildcat Kingdom.
After a three-hour meeting in the morning, I locked myself in the faculty restroom and had myself a really, really long cry (guess it's a good thing I didn't have on make up!) followed by a quick lunch run to Panera for a famous cinnamon roll--calories don't count when you're stressed, right?
Towards the end of the day, one of my assistant principals called me into his office and apologized for the abrupt schedule change and told me to take heart in the fact that he wouldn't have done this to me if he didn't think that I could handle it.
I laughed in my head. This guy doesn't know me. He's never been in my classroom. He has no idea if I'm even a competent teacher. He gave me something because "I could handle it." What a joke.
I have a very large collection of music on iTunes. One of my favorite CDs on there is the "Sweet Home Alabama" soundtrack. It puts all kinds of pep in your step and it's a great listen if you're on the go or need something to jam to in your car. One of my favorite songs on the album is called "Bring On the Day". The singer talks about being on her way no matter what it takes and she's going to survive it come hell or high water.
Story of my life, right?
This semester might be another one of those times that it will take everything in me to survive it, but I will. My kids might not get my highest ranked performance every day, but they'll walk away knowing something. I might not be the gold medalist this go 'round, but Lord knows I'm gonna try.
Maybe my assistant principal was right, after all.
"Watch out world, 'cause here I come and I can't stop 'til I'm done..."
I'm a Wildcat now too!
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting on my blog today. I look forward to reading more of your story.
ReplyDeleteI bought the "Mr." and "Mrs." mug set at the Family Christian Store.
Laughed when I read your story about the last minute schedule change. Was with a friend this weekend and she told me that her daughter (a first year teacher) showed up the first day and had a major schedule change. And, her principal said the exact same thing, "I knew that you were the only one that could handle it." Really?!?! They must learn this line in "principal school". :
Hope your week is BLESSED!
Laurel :)