There's been several times in the past month that I've wanted to blog. But I either lacked time or motivation to get it done. So this will be a hodge podge of stuff. There were a few times I wanted to get on my soapbox about stuff- defunding police, COVID politics, etc but I was convicted about sharing my thoughts publicly so only Rob got the honor of hearing them. Ha!
August has been a busy month. A week or two before school started we took the boys to ride dirtbikes and then stopped by a friend's house for a BBQ. That night E started complaining that he was tired and that his legs hurt. We chalked it up to riding his dirtbike. Monday, after playing with his friend all day, he started complaining that he was cold and that his muscles hurt. Out of nowhere he spiked a fever and we couldn't get it down. Tuesday I took him to his pediatrician and she was certain he has strep...until the test came back negative. We asked for him to be tested for COVID because of the fever and muscle aches. Tuesday was a rough day, full of tears (Both he and I cried several times). By Tuesday evening his fever broke and he was back to normal- eating, full of energy. By Thursday we hadn't received results but I was positive he didn't have COVID, mainly because Rob hadn't got sick and he always catches everything. Friday afternoon we got the call that he did test positive and that we all had to quarantine. Normally that wouldn't be a big deal but this was 3 days before I had to report for my teacher workdays. Talk about stressful!
That week was bittersweet. I hated that I missed the first day of school for the first time in my entire teaching career. But I loved that the boys got to go to theirs because they were done with quarantine. P got invited to have breakfast with some of his close friends before staring the first day of school. Then E wanted donuts to celebrate his first day. I took both boys to school then came home and cried. I literally watched the clock all day, wondering what my students were doing and counting down until the boys would be done with their school day. It was not fun.
Then I started teaching the next week and I have to say it's been a rollercoaster. I LOVE my group of students and I love teaching only ELA. But our district is doing a hybrid model and it's nuts. I can never remember which group is coming what day and what handouts have been given to what groups. Testing is all over the place because of grouping. It's a fast paced day, every day, trying to teach the kids in my physical presence while making sure the kids who are virtually learning understand the assignments. I come home exhausted every day, not because of the kids or any type of physical demands but because I'm mentally drained from trying to keep up with it all.
The weekends are fun, though. The boys are really into dirtbikes so E raced his first trail race a couple weeks ago and finished Top 10. Then last weekend Rob took the boys to watch a motorcross race, which the boys loved. This weekend both boys had friends spend the night. Then P spent the night at a friend's house the next night. Me? I've been working. I worked a few hours Saturday and then found out yesterday that school was cancelled today and tomorrow due to TS Marco. The thing fizzled out this morning and, other than a little wind and 10 minutes of rain, it's been a beautiful day. I'm sure tomorrow will be the same. Usually I'm thankful for storm days. But because of the craziness of this year, I don't like days off. I already have limited in-person time with my students so I don't want it wasted. I will be so thankful when the governor puts us at Phase 3 and all students can come back 5 days a week.
This year has been crazy. But I'm thankful that I can see a light at the end of the tunnel. P is doing cross country and has his first scrimmage this week (If Hurricane Laura doesn't affect us. I have a bad feeling about that storm.). Both boys are having friends spend the night again. I am meeting up with friends when schedules allow and trying to get to Spin class when I can. I loved our much needed family time for a few months but I am also happy that life is getting back to a somewhat normal routine. All in all, it's been a good month, full of good times, and for that I'm thankful.
