Starting Over, Yet Again....

I love that title. It's from a Sex & the City episode.

But fresh starts are on my mind. I'm feeling better, thank goodness. Nothing really interesting to report other than a stomach flu bug. I started eating the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, & tea) and within a couple of days all was set right again. Today was the last day of summer school. I enjoyed myself and so did the students. I hope what the community tried to start continues beyond the summer school program.

But I have made good connections. Now I feel comfortable inviting the elders into my classroom because I actually know some of them. Before I would put a general sentence at the end of a news note but now I can just go up and ask. And I got to know the people here even better.

But now the summer school boxes have been packed and put away for next year. My classroom is slowly returning to the blank canvas it needs to be in order to prepare for the coming school year. Every year comes a fresh start.....new students, new co-workers, and another new principal.....and in some ways I have to start all over again. I start the curriculum again....I have to let the principal get to know me and my teaching methods. Thankfully, the kids all know me. And most of the parents. So it's not as nerveracking as it was last year.

Personally, I like this time of year. I reflect on my teaching....what works and what I want to improve. I've already gone through the teaching catalogs and picked out my new stuff for this year. I pick out books to read to improve my craft. Okay, I did that already but now I'm going to read them. Normally, I don't teach summer school, so I have a lot more time for reading....but ah well, it was worth it.

This year I am also taking this time to make a fresh start in my personal life. The day after tomorrow I leave for California. I am bringing a high school student back with me. She's a good kid and I'd like to do something nice for her and show her Northern California. I've always wanted to play tour guide and I was hoping to show my then boyfriend. But then we broke up.

That's actually what started this. I was feeling so negative that I needed to do something positive. I needed to step out of my comfort zone and shake my life up. Me bringing L to California is the most selfless thing I've ever done. I realized doing something to give someone else joy was just what I needed to pick myself up.

Because of course, it only got worse.....in my love life that is. See, I broke up with my boyfriend when I found out he wasn't being honest with me. And then I found out, it was worse than I thought.....he was cheating too. This was totally new for me, discovering the man you loved was a work of fiction and didn't really exist. And we had made all these plans.....he was going to do this....then after a year we'd move in together....then after a year if things were going well, (and of course they'd be going well) then we'd consider marriage (because marriage is a must). So to go back to your life without the plans, makes things seem empty.

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I was interrupted while typing that post. Apparently, a maintenance worker went into my house to fix something, saw my cats and thought I had abandoned them and was gone for the summer. He reported me to my superintendent and so there was a mess for me to clean up. The funny thing was I was up at the school all day finishing the last day of summer school.

But the point I was heading to was that I was bummed out but planning my trip with Sister was a really good way to change things around for me. I was no longer dwelling in the stinkiness that was my ex....I was moving on with purpose. And it felt good.

Sister and I are at the airport now....and they just started boarding our flight to California...so there's a new adventure heading my way!!! Details to follow (of course!!!)