week 1

Ah... where to begin. I woke up Tuesday morning (the morning after I wrote my last post) feeling seriously ill and sobbing hysterically that I didn't want to go back. I wept while putting on my makeup, moped on the bathroom floor, and sniffled my way through what little breakfast I could get down. When it became clear that I could delay the inevitable no longer, I got into my car and began driving to work. As I headed for the freeway, an unexplainable wave of relief came over me, and I thought to myself, "I can do this. I really can". I laid down the law, and my kids responded wonderfully. Because it was my birthday (I guess I should have mentioned that earlier), I got flowers from Kevin, as well as Jamie and Scott delivered to the school. My birthday was announced in the bulletin, and I got to spend the afternoon in a staff meeting being trained on the new copier machine. I made it home around 6:15, and went to dinner at Casa Orozco with my parents, Kevin, and Nolan. There, Judy and I each had a Kamikaze shot, and I was also assaulted by the staff with a shot of sprite and tequila. Afterwards, Kevin, Nolan, and I met up with Sherry for coffee. What started off as the shittiest birthday ever ended nicely. The rest of the week was a series of up and down days - a day of behaving children, a day on misbehaving children, etc.

I thought I would include some of the highs and lows of the week

Highs:
3 visits from 1-800-Flowers within my first two days of school
a kind note from my principal
being told, “Before I knew you, I missed you! I didn’t even know you yet, but I missed you already!” and,
S:“You’re teeth are really clean!”
T:“What makes you say that?”
S:“Well, they look white and like you take good care of them”
T: (unable to miss the opportunity to try to be a good influence)“Well, I do brush them twice a day and floss them everyday!”
S:“Yeah” (points to tooth) “This tooth is hard to floss because it’s so wiggly!”

Lows:
Being ignored by students
Making a student cry
Forgetting recess the first day
Being blamed by a grandparent for causing moodiness in his grandchild due to a literary selection
Custodians that proudly spend “1 1/2 minutes” cleaning each classroom.
Being a meany drill sergeant