I had this kinda cool idea for what to do on my birthday since we are doing a BBQ party this weekend. I thought it would be fun to go up to the glass studio and try my hand at making a paper weight under Jes’ instruction. So, that is the plan for later. In the meantime I went to look at a house that we can’t afford and also met with the staff at my new school. I was afraid that I would love the house, but thankfully I only really like it.

Professionally I have a fair amount of course design work ahead of me and I need to jump right in as my AP syllabus is due to the clearinghouse in early June. So much for a vacation… I have lots of work to do! Summer is a break from having students, but it is not really a break from being a professional.

I spent most of today at what I will now call “The Circus” (I’ll elaborate more on why I am calling my new job “The Circus” at some later date), sponging up as much as I could from the woman who I am replacing. She is in her mid sixties and it turns out that we have several people in common in our career paths. She had worked with Shirley M. on the AP for several years and was saddened when I told her about the rapid onset Alzheimer’s/dementia. Jim B. had told me that when he saw her last she had no memory of him.

It’s a shame I am replacing this instructor, I would have loved to have had her as a colleague. She is clearly brilliant and I am stepping into some very large shoes. It’s exciting to think about what will be expected of me in the coming year. At “H” I was mostly teaching material I had been teaching for years – I was able to challenge the students, but my personal challenges were more logistical than intellectual. In the coming year I will be jumping into the deep end of the pool and will have to grow as an educator and intellectual in order to meet the rigorous demands of the curriculum. I am so very glad that I returned to teaching – I can’t imagine any other career that would both challenge me to grow and be so interpersonally rewarding. That’s my birthday present to myself: a rewarding future of committed service and personal growth. Jesus, I sound cheesy. Yes K.J., you do.