Well here we are here on June 9th. I can say without a doubt that it’s been the craziest year of all the years I’ve been teaching. So many twists and turns. Ups and downs. Heartbreak and happiness. Back in early March, I could never have fathomed all the changes we went through and continue to go through. I made some mistakes. I did some great things. Overall, I’m really proud of the resilience and tenacity I brought into this season. Not sure this will be written the best- just thinking as I go.
When all of this began, I set some goals. One of them was, that with the blessing of being given time that I would spend more of it with my son and husband. How have I done with that? The honest answer is that I was hit and miss. I had a hard time drawing already murky lines (I think all teachers can relate) between work and home life. It became even harder when we are lucky to have our jobs. The pull to stay always connected was ever there. It was incredibly hard to work full time at home with a husband that also works full time. With my son here full time. That said, I did a great job at times. We had many dinners at our table together which was something I really wanted to get going on anyway. The cooking was therapeutic. I had more conversations with my husband. John and I learned and played a ton more than we normally would have. Still have some more work to do with being 100 percent present with them and everyone. I will keep working on it. That gets into my technology goal of putting it down more.
Another goal was to get into a healthy morning routine again. I am proud of that. I didn’t make it every morning. I set a goal of moving my body 30 minutes a day in some capacity. MWF I do some running/peak exercises and push-ups/sit-ups. T/Th I alternate between dance and pilates. Sat/Sun is just a walk with Remi and/or John. Bike rides and walks interspersed when I can. I am proud to report that today was day 80 of moving my body every single day. Even if it wasn’t always intense, I moved everyday. Seems like a dumb thing but it can get easy to get gripped into work or just get tired and not address it the way it needs to be. So… day 80 for me!! I also wanted to sleep better. I have ups and downs with that. But mostly getting much more than I normally do.
As for school? We did the very best we could. It was incredibly sad at times to see kids go through things that they missed over and over again. It was hard as a teacher to miss those things. It is hard to see kids struggle with this new form of learning at times too. On the flip, I also saw some kids excel. We had laughs and tears. Music trivia and band lessons. Loss but also letters and unique events that ordinarily wouldn’t happen. I am really proud of the way my colleagues handled it, switching everything on a dime. We got some major curriculum writing done. Had some extremely inspiring and motivating band webinars for how we move forward. One more tonight about teaching band in the fall. Lots of work done in the band conference.
So I guess to sum up this time- I tried my best. The house is frequently destroyed. There’s alway something on the to-do list. I really think we did the best we could given the circumstances. We were lucky to have jobs and our health. We used them the best we could.
In funny news, I’m pretty sure JM is going to be working for Nate Mann one day. John: “I’m not gonna do just anything. I will just puff on the train.” (I know that doesn’t sound good haha, but he means the train puffing).
Also- John thinks it’s cool to sit and watch me exercise as a spectator.
Tomorrow begins summer school and I will be working a bit each day with students who still did not pass term 4. We may do some summer lessons/band camp as things change (if they do- we will have to monitor). Since my meetings should be a bit less during this time, I plan to get back into my photography projects. We also need to spend some time with my family and Joe’s. I feel really bad for not calling them these past two weeks- it’s just been a bit of a zoo. So plan to check in with them very soon (hopefully tomorrow or Thursday). I also plan to take some time for rest because I very rarely get to. Shut off the computer and recharge. Need a bit of a break.
I’ll be calling you soon, mom! 🙂
WiscoMichigan Life 