Life Begins (Temporarily)

In case you didn’t notice yesterday, I have a bit more time on my hands than I normally do. I actually put up two lengthy posts on widely disparate topics. The reason for my newfound productivity is that the students were set free for Christmas break around lunch on Wednesday. I posted my grades that afternoon and straightened up my desk while I waited for my personal freedom at 3:30. I still had to come back for a planning day on Thursday, but you don’t realize how easy life is for a teacher when there are no students around. I verified my grades, finished some last minute straightening up and then had the other six hours of my day to do nothing. I read the news, listened to last.fm (artists like Iron & Wine, a channel Chris would really dig, I think), ate lunch at the Christmas luncheon, researched salmon and tuna on Wikipedia, and then watched part of the ending to Julius Caesar (which was kind of even preparation for school since I teach Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, but it’s too enjoyable to count as work.) I left a little early, having a 30 minute pass for perfect attendance last month, picked up E (K was with a friend shopping so I didn’t have to pick her up like usual) and headed home. I had E set up on the floor with some toys and surrounded by pillows (we have no carpeting in the house and he’s not perfected the art of balance yet) and was washing dishes from my baking session the night before by 3:15. E went down for a nap a little while later and I got a chance to format the open letter to Hollywood that I wrote during my free time at work. After a trip to see the drama club’s Christmas play, I came back home, watched the first period of the Thrashers game and formatted the second post, and then switched over to the Poinsettia Bowl to watch Navy and Utah kick off the Bowl Season. I stayed up intentionally late on a Thursday night, knowing that I could sleep in on a Friday. So freaking sweet!

I actually fell asleep on the couch. It’s not a big deal. Our couch is probably the best sleeping couch I’ve ever felt. I woke up fairly rested this morning. K had turned the TV off for me when she got up to feed E around 1 a.m. This morning is a Friday and I’m having my second cup of coffee (I usually go without during school because I lack the time to make any and until recently have tried to avoid regular caffeine consumption) and watching the part of the Navy game that I slept through last night. E is sitting next to me, splitting his attention between watching me typing and the football game (he loves football and bands. He’ll sit quietly through football games, marching bands, and band concerts.) Until about 30 seconds ago he was actually sitting on the floor watching the game, with the occasional glance back at me to give me a grin. It’s one of those moments that actually keep you from sincerely regretting parenthood (and it takes a surprisingly small number of these moments to keep you going, but E gives us these on a regular basis, fortunately). K’s out shopping again.

Tomorrow is more of the same, with probably a little housecleaning to get the place ready for K’s parents and brother and sister-in-law coming in on Sunday and Monday. I have basically two weeks to decompress, sleep and do nothing. Of course all of this comes to a screeching halt during the week after New Year’s Day, but I’m OK with that. It’s surprising how much more work teaching is than any other job I’ve ever had. In my other jobs requiring an education I’ve been able to take a break pretty much whenever I wanted to (except the last two hours each night on the copy desk) and spending time on activities with no relation to work never kept me from getting all of my work done on time. It doesn’t work that way at school. If I take a break during my planning block I start getting really behind on grading and planning. The rest of the day I’m with students, during which time taking a break isn’t an option. I even have to train my body to only go to the bathroom during planning and lunch during the day. This probably sounds like whining, but it’s not intended that way. I actually had a good semester, and while I’m still working on trying to find a new career path, work isn’t causing major depression this year like it has in the past. I’m just mentioning it to help explain why I look forward so much to breaks like these where I can get in all the laziness I need that I just don’t get during the school year.