Back in Business: Still Alive

It has been a while, but I am back. The past couple of months have been hectic and filled with tons of ups and downs. It has been a struggle to express the span of my thoughts over the past weeks, and I won’t try to do that now either. Instead, I will just start with today.

So…

What happens when you rush out of the house and grab your shoes out of a dark closet? I’ll take a stab at this one: You end up wearing two different pairs of shoes. That’s right, I wore one type of shoe on my left foot and another on my right foot today. I did not notice until I stepped out of my car in the parking lot at school this morning. Luckily, both shoes were black. I was nervous that students would notice; however, nobody made a comment about it (except for the teachers that laughed when I showed them my mindless faux pas).

I also woke up with a huge pimple under my lip. Now, this normally would not be a problem, but I was worried about having a mark of puberty strapped to my face when I already do not look much older than the puberty-stricken adolescents I teach on a daily basis. Again, I was happy that nobody commented on it all day, despite my discomfort with it.

Why would I be surprised that nobody made note of it? Well, it would not have been far-fetched since a student (not the first) cried out at me, “MOLEY, MOLEY, MOLEY” in class yesterday. Yep, that still happens. I took her to the office. It’s a good thing I learned not to be sensitive when I was in middle school.

So, back to today. My first period did not start off great. I had to call two students’ parents during class. Some students decided that they already knew the material for the lesson that I was trying to teach, so I went ahead and gave them their quiz since they did not want to pay attention. I think their grades taught them the lesson far better than I could have any other way.

In my final period, social skills, I had a great time. We are reading a book called The Hatchet, and it is fascinating! I think the kids are getting into it as well, and it is so great to see them get excited about learning! I also had two of those students come to my classroom during lunch to read. As much as I enjoy my alone time sometimes, it is always heartwarming to have students want to challenge themselves outside of the classroom. I gladly welcomed them in.

On a more personal note, I am embracing my artistic side again. I recently began taking an acting class once a week. It is such a blast! I can already see myself growing as an artist, and I am looking forward to pushing myself even further. I am also looking for a voice teacher, so I will see how that goes. I joined the choir at church, and it is so amazing to be singing again.

All in all, life is far from a cakewalk, but I am happy. There is so much more to tell, but I will stop here—I will fill in the details as I begin to post more regularly from now on.

Music on my mind: “Shenandoah” as sung by Paul Robeson.