countdown

What are you counting down to? It seems I am always counting down to something. As a teacher, I count down to vacation. I have four days this week and then get a week off. Then, there are three weeks until another vacation. Without those vacations, I think teachers would go crazy. We all love our students, but you try being locked up in a room full of teenagers and not being able to go to the bathroom when you have to or getting to eat lunch on a daily basis and see if you don't go crazy! I challenge a doctor to treat a room full of patients all at the same time. Why is it they get to deal with each patient, one on one, for 15 minutes at a time, but I have to have 28 students, each with different needs, all who are just as important as each other and I'm expected to help them all at the same time? And then when I miss one (who didn't want to be there in the first place) I'm the bad one?

I also count down to when my oldest comes home from college. 32 days and counting. I can't wait to see her again. She sounds like she is having so much fun...not yesterday when she had to work with annoying kids who thought they knew everything, on a project. But, every other day, she is getting to experience seasons for the first time. Growing up in California, she saw snow once in elementary school. You can't even call it snow, it was just little flakes that fell and when they hit the hot cement, they melted, but boy did we think it was super cool! She has been 'up to the snow' a couple of times, but this is the first time she gets to live in a place that actually 'gets' snow. She gets to jump in piles of leaves and feel cold. That's so cool!

As I count things down, I have to remember to enjoy the now. My youngest is wanting to learn to read. He pretty much carries a book around everywhere now. He is constantly asking someone to read to him, which can get annoying after a while, when you are trying to do other things. I vividly remember my oldest going through this stage. She would ask how to spell things and try to read everything. The middle two, I don't remember. I'm sure they went through this because they are both very good readers and love to read and read all of the time, but I just don't remember them starting to read. I don't want to be in such a hurry to get through things that I forget these times as well.

I need to remember that as I am counting down, I need to count today for something too.