August 10, 2009

• Many Thoughts, None of a Title

  Here’s an update on the experiment. So I promised to post every Sunday. I’ve succeeded so far, but these past couple of weeks, I find myself typing this within an hour or two of midnight, my eyes drooping, my brain heavy only with the promise of slumber. I know some would say, don’t force yourself to post then, but you don’t understand. If I don’t, I’ll never keep this up. Once I while I do have something important to express. It may not be every Sunday, but my habits are such that I’ll never persist without a deadline and a schedule.

  For those who read two weeks ago about how I worried if I’d ever be truly responsible– well, I still have those concerns, but I’m feeling a bit better about it. Maria came through her surgery in much less time than anticipated, which was good, although I felt apprehensive for a moment when I saw the surgeon approaching us in the waiting room much earlier that we expected to see her. For a fleeting moment I feared something must have gone wrong, but as it turns out, the fusion inside her abdomen was much less severe than had been feared, so it didn’t take as long to separate. She spent two nights in the hospital and then came home, and has been recovering slowly but surely every day since. She goes to the doctor for her follow-up appointment Thursday, and fully expects to get her to sign off on permission for her to go back to work the following Monday, the 17th.

  Meanwhile, it’s been kind of quiet. Only the teenager has been home; the three youngest are staying with their dad or shuttling to his mother. They all caught chicken pox and have been fighting off colds or sinus infections as well, and obviously being ill, they can’t be home with their mother in a weakened state, not regarding the fact that it makes it a bit too hectic here when she needs to rest We’re looking at them coming home Friday.

  Tomorrow I am going to school, as in my school, my classroom. Our official report date is Thursday, but I always start early, because I just don’t focus all that well, and I need extra time to really get “in the mode.” First day with students is the 20th. Our kids start the day before that. They are in a new school district this year since we moved, and it’s going to be a new adventure for everyone. I bought their supplies today, most of them anyway, bouncing between OfficeMax and Big Lots. One small perk of teaching is these office supply stores give teachers discounts on occasion, and I have a strange fetish for office supplies, so they enable my behavior.

  As I start to reflect ahead on the new year, and consider what I’ve examined in the graduate course I’m taking, which is entitled “Diversity in Education,” I think about what’s wrong with American public education, and what’s right with it as well. Here I am in my very first course working toward my M.Ed., and I’m taking an Incomplete. I’ve never done that before in my long postsecondary career, but I’ve had to devote time to taking care of my wife, particularly her days in the hospital, but now at home as well– and I don’t regret any of it for a moment– and, although frankly, I have had some time here at home since it’s been quieter than usual, I’m just not able to focus like I need to right now. The good news is that the program doesn’t follow semesters but rather half-semesters, eight-week sessions, so while I won’t start a new course the week of the 24th, and instead will focus on finishing the work for the class I’m currently taking. I’ll still get to start a new class in mid-October.

  As for what I mentioned in the first sentence of that last paragraph– all these deep thoughts about the state of education, well, they’re going to have to wait until next time. I usually want to write something more topical and complex than this post, but sometimes you have to just write the daily life stuff. Thanks for reading and I hope to see you “out there.”

  • 1:05 am
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