One Day More

As my return to work looms closer, I'm beginning to mourn the freedom that I have enjoyed over the past four months. Don't get me wrong - I love my job and the routine that comes with it. But I've also really come to enjoy the nothingness that has filled up my days. I was given time off work and I wasn't sick, injured or a new mom. Quite frankly, they were the best four months of my life.

Over the three years that I've been with my employer, I was always eased in to whatever schedule they wanted me to fill. I started off working three days a week (Tues., Wed., Thurs.) and then when summer hit, I worked full time for July and August. It wasn't much of a difference when they added a Monday and Friday to that schedule. After the summer, I went down to only working Tuesdays and Thursdays. When summer rolled around again, I only had a Wednesday added to my plate. So maybe that's why this feels like I'm hitting the ground running. Where I'm used to slowly lowering myself into the pool, this time around, I'm being pushed off the high dive.

Thursday is actually starting to feel like the New Year to me, because of what I know lies ahead. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that by next year at this time, I'll be ready to go on maternity leave. I am so excited for what the future holds for Mike and I. There are a lot of things to look forward to in the next 365 days - my brother's wedding, finishing house stuff, gearing up for baby and possibly a road trip or two thrown in for good measure.

There are two things I need to prepare the readers for: (1) a lack of posts. I will no longer be posting in the morning, as that time will now be devoted to eating breakfast, showering and doing my hair (which I haven't done in four months either). I also can't guarantee a post per day like I have been averaging this last little while. (2) the content of my posts may change and I need to clarify something: I can't tell you where I work. I had my hand slapped last year for a letter to the editor that I wrote which contained the name of my employer. I won't make that mistake twice! :) Those of you who know me well, you know where I work and what I do. Those of you who don't know me have only been told that I am a teacher. So, since work will now take up eight hours of my day, my posts may begin to center on different interactions with my students or other goings-on in the classroom, even though those interactions and goings-on may seem different than your general, run-of-the-mill public elementary classroom.

And so, for my last evening where I can stay up as late as I want, I am going to enjoy a barbeque with Mike and the boys, a bath after Joel goes to bed and then reading Marley & Me (and subsequently continuing to bawl my eyes out as each chapter ends) until I fall asleep. Tomorrow, I will do a little shopping, go for lunch with my mom and finish as much cleaning and organizing as I can. I better go find my travel mug and dust it off...it's going to be abused with coffee like nothing it's ever seen.