(I started this at the end of last week, but am only finishing it on Monday evening… oops!)
In a firm believer that the second of something is harder. The second day back from vacation. The second week back to school. Heck, even Tuesdays are harder than Mondays for me.
Last week definitely supported this conviction.
To be fair we were all struggling. The 15yo wanted to drop her AP class, and maybe Orchestra. She also wanted to pull out of her swim commitment. The 11yo decided baseball was too much and started asking to skip practices, like his friends were doing. I had a meltdown at work about the Chromebooks STILL not working (there was a login issue that Google had to fix). At home I felt like there wasn’t enough time to make dinner and workout. My late night commitments felt impossible after managing the big emotions of the people around me. The husband had his own stuff going on.
The first week everything was shiny and new. The second, reality hit. It was a hard week for everyone.
I was managing a lot of big feelings. My own and others’. Especially others’. I was finishing The Bright Years. It was overdue so I felt like I needed to finish it, but honestly it probably was not the best book to be reading last week. To say it was emotionally draining for me would be an understatement.
I found myself leaning deeply into gratitude. Recognizing what I’m thankful for; sitting in deep gratitude for all I have has been the only path through the grief these past weeks as I continue to process the loss of our family friend. I am so thankful for my family, and leaning into that gratitude is the only way to move through the absolute terror I feel at the prospect of losing the people I love.
…
The weekend offered a nice reprieve after last week. Friday was a minimum day and I went to happy hour with people from work, ran, AND met up with my friends. All after teaching!
Saturday I spent four hours at the dojo, then went to the Valkyries game with my family. The Valkyries absolutely dominated the Washington Mystics and it was really fun to watch.
Sunday the kids and I met my parents at Great America for the last weekend of the water park. After a very cool summer, we got a 95* day and had a ton of fun in the pools and on the slides. That night my kids went home with my parents and the husband and I had a date night.
Monday the husband and I hung out a bit and I got a bunch of stuff done. I leave very early Friday morning for the Advanced Retreat in Oregon with other red and black belts from my dojo. I’m excited and nervous, and at this point I’m just hoping I don’t get sick (I missed the last trip to Oregon because I got Covid). I have a ton to do, both at home and work, to get ready, but I’m trying not to freak out. Monday I was able to get enough done that packing and planning for school both feel manageable. At least for now.
Trust the Oregon trip is wonderful. Particularly as it will put a lot of pressure on you at the start of a new school year. Really hope things for the kids sort out and everyone is happy with their decisions about classes and obligations. You didn’t mention if your students are adding to pressures but I hope not, you have a LOT going on just now. So glad you had a date night!!!
Looks like a nice weather week and I hope you can enjoy it! Thank you for writing!
Girl. You always amaze me how much you get done. I wanna be you when I grow up.
This school year I am trimming the fat- at work and at home- things that are not working/not serving and are there because they’ve always been there?.. say, a two week review unit? WHY do we need to spend two weeks on review? One week is more than enough. Especially for honors courses. I saw last year that the students are bored so I moved on pretty fast after a few days of review.
At home… declutterring… there is some stuff I’m holding on to just because I bought it. Not good, I’m not using it, need to let it go.
I love how after a rough week at home and work you still had fun! I can’t do that… I just hole up and sulk.
Second day/second week…yeah. That’s when reality sets in a bit, isn’t it?
I hope you have a great time in Oregon, and that it is a nice reprieve from daily life. Daily life is fine, but doing something different is really nice sometimes.
Chase Center – I’ve only been once, but BOY those seats are STEEP.
Hoping you had a wonderful worthwhile weekend and this week at school and home everything goes smoothly! Am sure you are super busy, this is not a push for you to write when you have so much going on.
Wow, I’m really late in commenting here! So I’m guessing the Oregon trip already happened? I hope it went well! And, I hope this week is going more smoothly for you. While reading your post I was thinking how much harder it makes things if your kids aren’t happy- it really tugs at your heart. Anyway I hope things have calmed down for everyone!