"Eat, Drink, and be 'Ready'"

Well if you know me, you know I am a huge Dave Matthews Band fan! :) ...like to the point of having the "fire dancer" tattoo! So the title for this post is taken from one of my favorite DMB songs, Tripping Billies!

 It has been  crazy few days. Meet the teacher was Friday night, so last week was spent frantically getting my classroom ready, as in literally haven't left school before 6pm any day last week. But come Friday afternoon, I left to come home early and get ready to go back Friday evening to meet my kiddos, and it felt like it was finally "READY".

My weekend was spent Relaxing with a "big R." I mean I "foreal" did nothing! (unless you think watching endless episodes of Reba counts as doing something.) Come Monday, I was anxious to get to work because I still felt like I had so much to get done. However, I was car-less, so I had to wait on  my Deddy to pick me up to go get my snazzy rental. And let me just say, my Deddy is the best. I mean he carried my market tote and polka dot 31 lunch box across the parking lot of the Fountain Inn Bi-lo to help me load up my rental. How awesome is he?! Even the rental car man suppressed his chuckle as he saw my dad approaching with arm loads of hot pink polka dots. So I was a tad later getting to work on Monday than I wanted, but all was well. Monday and Tuesday were spent doing last minute things in my classroom before Wednesday.

So now we are caught up to the present. Let's start with EAT. Even though I was a little cranky (and possibly picked a fight...anyone ever done that when super stressed topped off with PMS?!), David and I went to the grocery store together. Isn't that romantical!? We decided on the fail safe spaghetti for the meal "we" (HE) would cook to get my tummy ready for an early bed time. That sweet man cooked my dinner, (served it up on my plate and everything!) Love him! So my tummy is full with yummy spaghetti with an oatmeal cream pie dessert. Thanks, honey!

That leaves us with DRINK! Need I say more?! Haha, just kidding. Use your imagination here people. It is the night before the first day of school. I always get nervous and have butterflies. I haven't slept well in weeks. It was wine or Nyquil. I chose the wine!

...and BE READY. I feel almost ready. I could have stayed at school all night long and not felt completely ready, but I think I am as ready as I will ever be. Morning work is already out on the tables, pencils are sharpened, room is organized, plans are done, etc. I am sure 9,030,929,940,328 things will pop up tomorrow that I didn't think of yet, but they pay me the big bucks to think on my feel, right? (cue crickets). Oh, they don't pay me the big bucks to think of everything that could go wrong, ward it off, prepare for it, have a plan B, C, D, E, and Z, and do it all with a smile on my face?!?? Oh! Well then...

I suppose I should go pretend to sleep now. I am sure that instead of actually sleeping, I will get all cozy in my PJ's, settle in with my favorite book, and then toss and turn all night long. The start of the school year always makes me SO nervous.

I am so ready to have my kids all to myself tomorrow. Meet the teacher is always so crazy that I don't really get to spend any time with them. Tomorrow is the day that I will start getting to know these little people that mean so much to me. They will become like my family. We will laugh together, cry together (yes, if you know me you know I do that so well), share stories, and LEARN together. Tomorrow marks the beginning of a journey for me as well as for the children. When I first started teaching, I thought it was all I would ever want to do. More than once I hit the point where I just thought I couldn't do it any more. Long story short, teaching isn't an easy job. Life isn't an easy job either. And when both get really hard at the same time it is super difficult not to just lay down and cry. BUT the good news is God puts people in our lives when we need them. My dearest friend Betsy was the first of many people that encouraged me not to quit. Not to quit teaching and not to quit loving life. Betsy was one of the first people to show me that my hardened heart could still teach and it could still love.  I am so thankful God has put Betsy, as well as students, parents and other teachers in my path to teach me that teaching and loving it is what I am born to do. And for the many people that have been with me over this 5 year journey I call teaching, and this 27 year journey I call life, thank you. You have not let me stop smiling, even with both of these jobs were almost too much to bear. As my mama always said, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." Bring in on. I am ready! Happy 2011-2012 school year!