As I sit in the kitchen, in the corner booth, the spot that i've been sitting in for many hours this weekend, I watched the clock strike 12:00 and my eyes instantly got heavy. (Disclaimer: all my typically amazing writing skills are gonna be missing tonight, because of sleepiness) I've been reading textbooks on grammar, literacy and mathematics and as boring as that stuff is, i've sort of enjoyed it (but my eyes are still tired). Now, its not quite the same type of enjoyment i get out of going to sleep at night, walking to get the mail, or even cleaning out the Roomba. It is a type of enjoyment that is hard to explain. Maybe the fact of the matter is that I am actually enjoying school and being a student again, even enjoying learning. For many people, this might be a normal thing, but for me, not so much. I don't think i've ever studied for 8 hrs in a month, let alone a single weekend, and if i didn't need sleep, i could keep going! I'm crazy!
But, anyways, school is underway and i am really enjoying it. my classmates are all great! very friendly and welcoming. One day last week we had to get into groups of 4 and find things that we all had in common. One of the groups said that they were "all younger than tim", which is true by a good 2 yrs.... oh wait... no, 7-9 yrs, i'm old. but it did get a good laugh out of the class and those sort of things help me feel a little more comfortable, since i don't, or didn't, know anyone. I am in a 3rd grade classroom every Tuesday and it is quite possibly the best 3rd grade classroom ever! my teacher is amazing in many ways, from the way she connects with each of the kids to how she organizes her day to how she relates to many of the parents. and the kids, the kids are practically little angels. They help each other when they need it, they behave when they should behave and they have also welcomed me in as one of their class. Last week i stayed after school to sit in on a few conferences. One family came in and my teacher introduced me to them. They said, "oh, we've heard about you. ... when 'our boy' gets home each day we have him share a high point and low point, YOU were his low point today. He said, "my low point is the fact that Mr. Olson is only in our class on Tuesdays." That made my day! Things like that really help you keep pluggin' along. well, off to bed so i can plug along tomorrow.
