Coming Up for Air

I have been living and breathing school since the middle of August.  As a first year teacher with no "education in education" ... I've been overwhelmed with the amount of work expected out of teachers ... also, I'm shocked at the lack of respect that is given the teaching position. 

I'm learning (with the help and support of some of the other teachers at my school that I am slowly getting to know) that I have to not let all the negative get to me ... and that I have to leave it behind and go home.  There is enough work to keep me busy 24/7 ... but I have to just let it go and get done what I can in a reasonable amount of time.

So ... this weekend, I'm starting my new commitment to re-joining the world ... to "get a life" again.  It must be working a little ... here I am ... back on blogger.  :)

Today, we took the kids to History Day in downtown Nashville.  My dad would be so proud if he could see me doing this.  :)    He was a total history nerd.

We met Abe Lincoln and many other characters ... learned a little about how life really was 100 - and even 200 - years ago.  The kids liked the spinning wheel, corn grinders, old fashioned bath tubs, wash boards and wringers and hanging clothes on the clothes line to dry.  They saw a blacksmith working and met a (very scary looking) Indian.  None of the kids would go near the Indian ... he looked pretty realistic ... and kind of like he would scalp you if you got too close.

Downtown Nashville has this really nice "mall" at the foot of Capitol Hill.  There are a lot of memorials to various wars, a giant stone map of Tennessee that you can walk around and (our favorite spot) a bunch of water fountains that you can play in during the summer.  Right next to the mall is the "Farmer's Market" ... so we took a side trip over there for some "meat and three" vittles (southern term for home cooking).  Zoe was all too happy to show her fried okra for the camera.

We saw a couple of battle reenactments ... they were a bit much I thought for the kids ... but they enjoyed them and thought they were cool.  One was a WWII machine gun fight between two units and then the winning side went through the other group and shot all them with pistels up close to make sure they were dead ... I was trying to move the kids on to the next booth pretty quick at that point.  They didn't seem to be phased and they were doing their own reenactments in the trees on the edge of the park on the way out ... trying to shoot me, of course.

Tonight, Bain & I are going out ... Richard will be here to babysit.  I'm so behind on sleep that I'll be out by around 8:30 ... so we are starting early - about 5:30.  I have been sleeping about 2-4 hours a night ... sometimes getting a really good night of 6 - 7 hours.  My voice is completely gone this week ... so I know that I've got to slow down or I'm going to have more problems physically.  My sister keeps reminding me that I'm not young any more ... and I know that is very true.  It's tough, though, to not push myself ... I'm used to being a work-a-holic when I was younger ... but I was YOUNGER then ... and I had no kids.  

So ... wish me luck with my new game plan to work less ... rest more!