This Week's Reflections

 I originally was going to post something else this week, but decided against it due to the sensitive nature of it and the possibility of some unwanted blowback.   I will save that draft for the book instead.  

This has been a hectic week with a lot to adjust to.  My recent dental procedure has radically altered my eating habits at this point, and it was a major accomplishment last night when I was able to actually eat a piece of fried chicken!  I am ready to heal up from that, get adjusted to my new denture, and get back to life again - this became more complicated than I thought it would be.   However, on the positive, I got some much-needed dental care, and in a way that is a burden that is relieved. 

Aside from dental adjustments, it has also been a crazy week at work too.  We had what are called three-way parent/teacher conferences yesterday, and with the exception of one nasty woman who was just, well, a pain in my backside, those were relatively smooth.  We got to go in at 11 yesterday, but we stayed there until 7 at night - we do that at our particular school every year, so it is part of the routine.  Then, thanks to the merciful foresight of our principal, we got to do our professional development day from home, which was nice.  Then, there is tomorrow, when we have to go in for 3 hours to the school open-house which is also another pain-in-the-rear aspect of academic life here, but that too should be relatively uneventful (provided there are no more hostile parents like the one I had to deal with yesterday!).  Sunday then is my birthday, and after I get two days off, then back Wednesday, during which time our students will be at CWSP that day, and Thursday and Friday will wrap up the week.  Soon, it will be Thanksgiving week, and we get some time off then too, and a couple of weeks later it will be the start of Christmas break at that point.  That gets us halfway through our year then.  The second half of the year will be as follows once we are back in January.

From the time we get back in January from holiday break until about Easter week in April, it will be pretty mundane.  We will have that punctuated with occasional snow days, as is standard that time of year.  The time between the beginning of January and the beginning of April is perhaps the most mundane part of the year - not a lot goes on, it's pretty much a normal classroom routine, and it can be taxing.  We have a few holidays in between to break the monotony though, as well as CIP and asynchronous days, so it will be manageable.  And there is the Day of Service in March - this year I am not digging ditches again either - I think I will take our senior History teacher's cue and plant seeds at the Franciscan farm instead.  After Easter then, things start to ramp into high gear again as we begin the mad rush toward the end of the academic year.   The time between mid-April and early June is about as busy as it is between September and December at the beginning, but we also have a long summer break coming which helps.  All of this leads to a couple of things I am pondering at this point.

Although I have gained valuable experience teaching at this school, I am really thinking about other opportunities at this point.  The school workload is stressful, the student demographic is a bit too challenging at times, and then there are ideological differences with some of the other faculty and staff.  Despite being a nominally Catholic institution, our school has a large spectrum of teachers, and many of them lean a little left-of-center ideologically and politically, making me feel like a fish out of water at times.  Living back in Baltimore is almost like living in a foreign country to me anyway, as I don't feel as comfortable here as I did in both Hagerstown as well as in Florida.   That realization has led me to contemplate something else that is in the works as well, and I wanted to touch on that now.

Getting out of the city is a huge desire for me now - I technically never wanted to live in the middle of Baltimore anyway, and only did so because of work.  However, I am at a place both with credit and income that I can for once explore some options of home ownership, and later today I have a phone conference with a lender about the possibility of this happening.  I have already been pre-approved for two mortgage loans already, and it's just technically a matter of tying together some loose ends to make a purchase happen.  I am looking at White Marsh, as well as nearby Middle River, to see what is there for me and we'll see what happens.  I will know more later after my phone conversation with my potential lender, and will follow up later also. 

I am also on the verge of my 56th birthday, which is coming up Sunday.   As I approach my 57th year of life on this earth, a lot is on my mind - I feel the aging process catching up to me (especially with this dental work) and I have had to face some very obvious truths about my own limitations at this point in my life - what do I want to do, and more importantly, am I able to do it?? That question leaves me with more questions at times, and in all honesty I do feel a bit overwhelmed.  I think once the dust settles and things fall into place, I will begin to see a clearer picture.  And, my goodness, I hope that happens soon!

Well, those are my thoughts for this week, so I will see you next time.