And So It Begins...

...the Sunday (or, thankfully in this case, Monday) night madness: grading homework, sending off lesson plans, responding to all the emails I've neglected all weekend, rereading the story I will be teaching tomorrow so I don't look stupid when a student asks a question and I've forgotten what he's talking about, envisioning how tomorrow will go and praying there won't be a coup...

...and trying to breathe, and keep in mind the big picture. This is the new part this year -- didn't exactly put that on my "to do" list last year. (Although, as a friend recently pointed out to me, when you have to put "think big picture" on a to do list, you are missing the point. Oops.) I went home to see my parents this weekend and, in the midst of a grading frenzy, my dad interrupted me and said, simply, "Remember to be patient. You have a lot of life ahead of you. You're not going to figure it all out this moment." My dad is a teacher, too, and he remembers the early years of trying to pull everything together at the last minute. It's helpful to see him at the end of his career and remember that every task that seems so critically important right now is a much smaller part of a much bigger plan (which, thankfully, is not all under my control).

Happy short week, friends!