(pictured: first day of school )
It has been two weeks now since I started my new job as a tenth grade teacher of English Literature. Tired does not even begin to describe the state my body has been in after grueling hours spent in a high school, with about a hundred teenagers who didn't want to be there. I've gone through locker wars with another teacher, gone on scavenger hunts, around school, for technology to use in my classroom and have already written six referrals on students for discipline. Thankful for this job, I endure these small issues with a smile, slightly hoping school life will calm down, just a bit, in the weeks to come. It only took eight days for all of this to happen .... I wonder how the next 8 will play out.
With only six hours of sleep each night, for the past two weeks, I welcomed this Saturday with more time in bed. Since starting my new job, sleeping in means waking up at 8am feeling quite rested, but also means staying in my PJs until noon. Around 10 o'clock this morning I had already caught up on the shows I had missed during the week, by watching them online, so I made myself a ham and cheese omelet complete with a mug of starbucks coffee to warm my insides. Ahh, the bliss of drinking a warm cup of coffee, flavored with a pinch of hazelnut and a dash of cream, just makes the day better. The ring of my phone shook me away from my daydream, but transferred me into girl talk with one of best friends, Tara. It was in the middle of our catch up time that I was caught by surprise. My friend, a marine who is fighting in Afghanistan, was on the other line. With a quick switch from girl talk I gladly entered into marine talk. It had been months since I'd talked to this particular friend, and just hearing his voice made it seem like he wasn't so far away, in a war zone - a different world, sometimes feeling like a different planet.
(pictured: me and Tara )
It wasn't until 1 o'clock that I was actually able to step away from the phone and finally take a shower. I think I still had school grim on me from the previous day at work; my face was so oily my glasses kept sliding off my nose, my feet had a peculiar smell, and I think I actually heard the shower beg me to enter in and wash it all away. Delighted at the grim being gone from my body, I followed the smell of jasmine mixing with water through the room and felt inspired to clean the rest of the house. The couch even got cleaned. I even took a couple of breaks in my cleaning to swing my hips and tap my foot to the melodies coming from my ipod. It was a good day.
It's 5 o'clock now and I am sipping on a pineapple, raspberry smoothie waiting for 7 o'clock to arrive so that I can visit with my friend Tara. The girl talk on the phone earlier transpired into scheduling a girl visit time this evening filled with crafts and cookies. So, here I am - happy to be lazy, glad it's Saturday, anxiously awaiting time spent with friends. Never underestimate the power of a lazy Saturday, it will do wonders to your soul.
