I start with students tomorrow. Today is last minute planning and grading for P.M. (Puppy Mill INC.). The commute is going ok. I am carpooling to H. with another teacher from a commuter lot that is about halfway to H. for me, so that is saving on gas. The puppy mill is killing me. I let the students go early last night as things are really winding down. I can’t wait until that’s over – just two more weeks of double duty. I imagine the double checks will be nice around wedding time to take care of incidentals.

I don’t seem to be cracking under the pressure. In fact on the contrary I am more relaxed now than I have been in months. I think there’s an enormous sense of relief in simply getting on with my life. I am still thinking of the house deal as the one that got away, we could have made it work and been happy there, but maybe we’ll find something better. As our social network in H expands I am hearing more and more about houses that are not on the general market. There seems to be a small town distrust of realtors and as a sanctioned member of the community who they would like to see put down roots, we may get a better deal for having waited.