Politics

So today John McCain named his running mate. It will be Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska. This intrigues me for a number of reasons. First, she's 44. With McCain as old as he is and criticizing Obama for not having enough experience to run the country, I am certain that her age and inexperience will come up as she'd be the President should anything happen to McCain.

She also has five children. Their names are: Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper, and Trig.

Maybe it's just because I'm a teacher and encounter all sorts of parents, kids, and names, but I have to wonder about her...

Hope

The last two years of teaching, my class has been rough. At the end of each year, it felt as though I'd been through the wringer, leading me to question my choice of career.

Tonight, there is hope. Hope that I can feel successful at my job, enjoy what I do, and put a genuine smile on my face. Hope that I can get out of bed thinking, 'I can't wait to see my students today!' Tonight was back to school night.

There are 33 kids on my list. But it's a balanced list. Even numbers of boys and girls. Even ethnic backgrounds. Even addresses- from the nicer areas as well as low-income housing.

Tonight was back to school night. I met 17 of my students' parents. Friendly, outspoken, present, engaging, caring parents. I met 17 of my students. Eight and nine year olds with big eyes and hesitant smiles, waiting to see what is in store for them.

Balance is back, in so many ways. That gives me hope.

Dun dun dun...

The mornings are getting chillier...

Sales at Staples mean I make multiple trips there a week...

The bank account is running low...

It must be time to go back to work!

Tomorrow is my first official day back, with kids starting on Tuesday. I'm spending today getting some things set around the house before officially going back. I went into school yesterday (Monday), and everyone assumed they'd see me there on Tuesday. C'mon, folks! It's your last day of vacation! Today I slept in and then read in bed for an hour before getting up to get things done.

I do have post ideas that will appear soon... making use of the neat feature of writing a post and setting it to appear on the blog at a later time.