17 More Hours of Summer Vacation Left...

Like thousands of teachers around the Atlanta area at this very moment, I am counting the hours that I have left of summer vacation.  Usually summers feel so quick, but this one has been EVER-LASTING.  For one reason, it kind of started in mid-March.  I mean, not really, but yes, really.  That is when my kids and I began spending, um, every waking moment together.  (Courtesy of Fulton County Teleschool!)  So, yeah, I am pretty okay with going back to work tomorrow.

But people, it is going to be weird.
No hugs, no visible smiles, no large gatherings, no applauding.
It's pre-planning, Covid-style.
😷

So, I need a pep talk.  (Maybe you do too, if you are a fellow teacher.)
I want to remember WHY I am a teacher.  I need some pre-inspiration for pre-planning.

Here goes....

I worked my (cute little) tail off to get my job.  I am so glad that Taylor Road Middle School admins gave me the chance to prove that I could teach 6th graders!  I don't do it for the money.  (Clearly.)  Or the ease.  (Have YOU ever been blessed out by a Karen-helicopter-mama with regards to her son's test grade?!)
I do it for the kids.  I love those kids...like 99% of them.  (I know you get that and you won't judge me.)

I keep thinking about the kind of summer experiences that some of my 150 future students are having...They watch TV until there are no Netflix shows left to be watched.  They play Xbox games to level 1,000.  They wear out local cellphone towers.  And now, now they must gaze into the black mirrors (their device screens) for hours a day, rather than GOING to school.  Some students have immuno-compromised siblings or parents, and so they have barely ventured outside the house in months. 

(Disclaimer:  Please don't read anything into that statement. I know that our leaders could not win with this decision they had to make, either way.  I love my bosses, for real.  Their heart is to keep us safe.)

On August 17th, I get to meet my kids.  I get to give them a big smile and make them laugh and teach them Social Studies stuff.  I get to begin to build a "family" of 6th graders, albeit a remote learning one.  I get to connect with them, and help them connect with each other.  They have the strangest first-day-of-middle-school in recent history.  But I get to help them through it.  I have quite a privilege.  And if I get irritated at how I have to do things or what kind of rules that I have to follow, I will lose my joy and potentially lose the chance to really love these kids well.  I will be full of ME and there won't be room in my heart for THEM.  May it never be.

So, 17 hours until I get to prepare to bring laughter, knowledge, and love into 150 homes around Johns Creek.  Yay!  I feel inspired already!

Looking Forward to Looking Backward

Dear Favorite People,

Are you like me...looking forward to looking backward?  Can't wait till the pandemic is in your rearview mirror?  Awaiting the time when thousands of people don't die from Covid-19 every day?  Anxious to give up your recently acquired career of home-schooling parent?  Tired of smelling the inside of a mask?  Yes, yes, I see those heads nodding.

My faith informs my belief that God is in all of this, and that he is doing a lot of really good things in and through our suffering.  I really cling to that belief every. single. day.

Meanwhile, I am trying to LOOK FOR the good He is doing.  I think a lot about this question:  "What will we think when we look back on this time?"  Answering that grows my gratitude and calms my anxiety.  (small pandemic miracle:  have not had to up my dosage, if you know what I mean!)

So here is what I will think when I look back:

*That was really cool when my kids had the experience of being BORED, realizing that boredom is not the end of the world.
*I liked staying home for most of the weekend...it felt very refreshing.
*Humans can really solve problems when we want to.  And there sure are some extra-smart science-and-doctor-types out there. 
*I liked getting to know my kids more.  They have great personalities.
*That was the time that confirmed my worst fear:  I literally have no control over anything. 
*It also confirmed my greatest hope:  I sure am glad that God does.
*Sleeping 9-10 hours a night was awesome.  Man, sleep is really good for me, huh?
*Freedom to stand near people, hug them, shake hands...I really missed that.  We really ARE built for community.
*Worshiping with my family here at home...wow, I will never forget watching my kids dance to church songs.
*God bless the Starbucks drive thru.  Oh, and Target. 
*I loved having a whole hour every morning to drink coffee, read my Bible, and write in my journal.
*I grew in my technological prowess as a middle school teacher, forced to step up my lessons digitally.
*Suffering shows what people's characters are really made of, for good or for bad.
*If that didn't prove that I was not made to home-school, then nothing will!

I know my experience comes no where close to the hardships that many people have had.  We still have our jobs and we didn't get the virus.  Many people (maybe many of you) will have much more meaningful things to look back on.  Your character, no doubt, has grown much more than mine.

Lastly, I will say this...as a teacher, I look forward to reuniting with my beautiful 6th graders, to see what transformations they have gone through.  I expect them to be different.  I am not sure what that will look like.  But I feel that suffering always makes one deep and emotionally-rich, and these kids are living through different levels of suffering right now.  If this time is changing ME, then no doubt it is changing them too.  And in some weird way, I am happy that they got to change like this in their teens, rather than waiting till their 30's.  Okay, 40's.  I am in my 40's.  There, I said it.

And what about you?  How are you changing?  And what do you think you will say when you look backward?!

Can't wait to see you all and give you a big, fat hug.
love, Cathy

Thank you for Thanksgiving

My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving.  Why?  No list of toys to buy, no tree to trim, and...well, this is unique to me...but Thanksgiving is when Babe got down on one knee and asked me to marry his sweet self!  So, I love it. 

Plus, Thanksgiving just FEELS different...like, what other holiday so much summons that inner place of gratitude?  Thanks for country, and for all the other blessings of life.  I always wonder who atheists thank.  Or even those who believe in God, but don't necessarily find him to be involved in our day-to-day lives.  That said, I want to give thanks where I believe that thanks is due, in honor of my favorite holiday.

Lord, thank YOU for my people:  Babe (my favorite person E-VER) and the four loud, um, I mean, loved children.  Cate is rocking her 7th grade ADVANCED classes, Rihanna is making friends like crazy in 6th grade, Will is my joke-making, basketball-playing, hands-down-favorite son, and Alana is smiling that sweet smile for all of her third grade people.
Thank YOU for our 2 Chihuahuas who, well,... often attack each other.  Turns out the people who call Chihuahuas "temperamental" were indeed correct.
Thank YOU for our amazing home...not to sound like a bad country song, but...filled with smelly laundry, cookie crumbs, and laughter (or is that just screaming?  Hard to tell).  Thank You for our community; we walk out the door and the nations are a step a way in every direction.  What a great place to bring up a family composed of two races. 
Thank YOU for my besties, the Ya-Ya's who have walked with me for 29 years of life.  (Do NOT stop and do that math in your head.  Just trust me, I am officially getting pretty close to middle-aged.  Or perhaps I have already arrived.  I will never tell.)  One bestie has just moved across the country (sniff, sniff), but thank God for texting.  (Am I right?!) 

Lord, thank YOU for my family of origin.  (Here I borrow the term that my therapist always called them.  Oops, did I just say that out loud?)  My trip a year ago with my dad to my sister's wedding in South Africa was a life highlight.  I came home and wrote down all the stories you told me.  And I swear to keep all the family secrets!!  My sister has a new life in South Africa, but I am happy for her to be loved and taken care of.  (And excited to see her next week...wondering if her Alabama accent has given way to something a bit fancier?)

Thank YOU for my job!  I am Sugar Mama, hear me roar.  Here I am, working 50 hours a week, raising four kids like a champ, and keeping the cleanest house on the street.  (Warning:  the previous sentence contains two blatant lies.)  I adore teaching my sweet 6th graders, and I am THAT obnoxious teacher that actually misses them over the holidays.  I am also THAT teacher that HOPES I run into them at the grocery store,  Bizarre but true.  Never leave home without mascara.

Thank YOU for my church...19 years of building relationships with people who are on the same kind of spiritual journey that I am.

Mostly and truly, thank YOU for YOU, Lord.  You are so good to us.  We fight you, we forget you, we ignore you, but You just keep being awesome. 

Lastly, thank YOU for Thanksgiving, a day that reminds me to say all of this!