We were on a break!

* must be said in Ross Gellar's nasily obnoxious voice. obviously.

Well it's August 2 and I'm finally in the swing of summer break. According to my blog roll I haven't posted since June 14th so I have a ton to get caught up on. In the that time I had more drama at work than I thought possible, I had a new job offer that I seriously considered, my director resigned which prompted me to stay, I co-ran graduation, took 19 seniors to Disneyland overnight for grad night, flew to RI for a dear friend's wedding, had my 15 year old sister visit for two weeks, taught vacation Bible school, and worked downtown during Comic Con. I know that people think that we teachers have it so easy because we have 2 months off in the summer but unless you have worked as a teacher or lived with one, it is impossible to understand that massive amount of stress a teacher has during the year and that it takes at least one month to simply decompress from the year on top of having to get everything ready for the next year.

The past month I have taken some time to reflect on my past year. This past year was the most stressful one that I have ever experienced. Things at my work were so awful that it spilled over into every aspect of my life; I've gained weight, I've had trouble keeping a good schedule with cooking and keeping up with my house, I've had trouble with my skin and even my hair! (wow I should like a wretched old hag - one of the highlights was one of my difficult students telling me one day - "wow Ms. T I saw a picture of you from the first year here - you were hella skinny". Thanks - this is what 3 years inner city will do to you) I've spent hours crying or wanting to rip my hair out. I've had very little time to work on things that I enjoy such as my jewelry and so my little shop has suffered. I allowed my stress to affect everything in my life. The only calming factor I had was my wonderful and supportive husband. Last month I decided that never again would I allow stress to do this to me. I am in control of my life, the elements around me are not.

When my sister was here, my husband and I took her to LA for a few days. We spent a night in Malibu, exploring the Pepperdine campus and dining at the fabulous Paradise Cove. The next day (which happened to be our anniversary) we went to Universal Studios. I told my husband that even though school was out I was having trouble relaxing. I had been in such a fast gear for so long that I was having difficulty relaxing and just slowing down. That day my blackberry died. It would not charge for the remaining two days that we were in Los and guess what: no one died, my house did not burn down, not one of my students had a dire emergency, my dogs were fine, and I had no choice but to stop worrying about everyone and everything else and take a break. And. It. Was. Wonderful. Since then I have worked on relaxing and getting things in order. After a much needed break I am back on track and feeling great. Pictures to follow.

"and who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life" Matt 6:27