Teaching | Forever Within the Numbered Pages

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I’m starting to sound like a broken record, but I cannot believe how quickly time is passing! It seems like just a few days ago I was heading out of my classroom to begin my maternity leave, and now I am pulling materials together for the first weeks of the school year.

I definitely want to appreciate everything that is in store for our little family, and August is going to keep us on our toes.

What’s in store for August

Baby Boy’s 4-month check up
Back to school for my husband and myself AKA
My return to teaching since March 3rd
Birthdays upon birthdays! 14 big ones in our family (Who knew November was so sexy???)
The return of football, preseason
Family pictures with my parents
Bad Moms movie night with my girlfriends
A family visit with an aunt and uncle we haven’t seen in a few years
A massage appointment for this mama thanks to my godmother
July was fabulous, but I’m always eager to start a new month because it inspires me to try, try again at achieving goals.

Family Goals: Spend more time with each other than in front of a screen.

I know that his is qualitative, not a quantitative goal unless I literally keep track of minute-to-minute time spent. I do know that I will be gone from the house more than I ever have before since Cliff was born so it will be important to make each moment, each hug, each snuggle count. Nobody wishes that they would have watched one more episode of TV or checked Facebook one more time when they calculate their valuable moments. I may have less time, but I will be better quality time spent with my family in this upcoming month.

Health Goals: Keep everything in check and hit the gym daily.

I have reached my body composition goal by being able to fit into my khaki capri pants for work. It’s a dull goal, but now I just want to maintain that achievement. I can accomplish this by sticking to my 80/20 diet (80% healthy, 20% cheat food) and getting to the gym. I am grateful that I enjoy working out, mostly afterward, and it’s not a mental mountain to climb.

Professional Goals: Take in every day, remain present, and then become reflective.

Ask anyone who has been working full time for some time if they would like an extended period of time off, and you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who would turn you down. I will not insult stay-at-home parents and call my maternity leave/summer break a vacation because trust me, I worked! But what I will say is that this time away from the classroom reminded me why I love my profession, why I believe it’s my calling, and refocused me on my objectives: support student learning through innovative and whole-child instruction. I want to work with students, their parents and my colleagues to support their educational advances. Money, power, and titles were not why I chose to become a teacher, and I have forgotten that in the past few years, allowing what I thought I was “owed” to taint my opinion of what I do and what I contribute. I was able to conduct a two-week SAT English study camp this summer, and it was just enough to remind that I love my job.