I was at the beach this weekend with my friends and laughed hard as we swapped stories from our classrooms.
I acted out how I talk to the kids about my heart books and getting to the heart of their stories by gently hitting my chest with fist, in that “mea culpa” motion. I even did that at Back to School Night and the parents nodded as if they understood. One of my beach friends asked me if I ever got bruised. Not yet, but I am monitoring it these days, now that it is on my radar.
In class we are working on building our writing stamina. I have really great kids who work hard, but a few still haven’t figured out that writing time means we write the WHOLE time, not just for a bit, then pick up a book. They are writing longer and better after a few weeks of writer’s workshop.
Apparently, I need to work on my stamina, too.
Back to School Night was Thursday evening and it went well. I had to get up Friday morning, drop the dogs at Sniff Dog Hotel, then drive to the beach for the retreat. I got up just fine, because I am a morning person, but I just couldn’t get it together. Somehow, morning person me ended up arriving an hour late to the 9 a.m. meeting. I felt as though I had a hangover…did I get dehydrated because I sweat so much at Back to School Night? I felt better after lunch, where I drank a lot of water and did better at the afternoon portion of our meeting.
When evening rolled around, some former colleagues arrived and we had dinner together and spent a little time on the beach where the bonfire we’d hoped for had been canceled due to a fire ban. I had a lovely room with a balcony & fireplace overlooking the beach so I invited people back.
I was alright at first, conversing with my friends. But then it caught up to me. Instead of sitting on my bed, I found myself laying down. My eyes were closed but I was trying hard to follow the conversation. Eventually I heard someone say “We should go. Adrienne is tired.”.
I guess I need to work on my stamina, too.
booksandbassets 
Stamina comes in all areas of life. Your life has been so busy with back to school, you were finally able to relax.
What! You mean you discovered that you are only human? Teachers expect so much of themselves…daily. The start of a school year is exhausting, and parents’ night…a complete drain. So glad you could finally relax with friends who understood!
It is hard to be on the go constantly. Our bodies tell us when it it time to slow down. Sounds like yours did just that. I am sure your were totally refreshed the next morning.
It takes a while to get that teaching stamina back. I’m struggling to get anything done after work these days. SO tired!