Goodbye, Summer

Here it is, the first week of August, and I have one day left of summer vacation. I know it's because I got a job, but it feels so wrong to only have ONE day left...

Tomorrow is Friday, my last weekday off before I start work on Monday. Even then, I haven't exactly been experiencing summer vacation for a little while now. Ever since we got back from San Francisco, I've been going in to school to get my bearings, meet my fellow teachers and administrators, and try to get acquainted with my resources. I have spent time digging through my music library, and I feel I've not even scratched the surface there. I have met with the director I'm assisting several times, discussed calendar, and general policies, and all with our kids underfoot (my girls and his son). It's been crazy.

Then there was this training I went to for 2.5 days... Friday, Saturday and half of Sunday... I really don't want to talk about it...

I just had a workshop this morning and was supposed to have another this afternoon that was called off (happily). I've been learning a lot of valuable stuff, and it's hard to process it all. I'm feeling behind the game, having never taught middle school before, and also not knowing anything about my students at all, besides having their names on a list. I am ready to meet them, and definitely ready to hear them, so I can really pick out some fall concert repertoire.

I mentioned that school starts for me on Monday. Monday through Wednesday is just for teachers new to the district. The returning teachers start on Thursday. New teachers, all of us, are donating those first three days to the district. We are not paid and cannot claim a start date prior to the 13th. There seems to be something inherently wrong with that... As I am powerless to change it, I won't talk about that anymore.

Now to the heart of the matter. Working-mom* status begins for me VERY soon. So far, when I've had to do things for school, my mom has watched the girls for me on weekdays, except for twice when she couldn't, and I took them to school with me. Monday through Wednesday, the kids will be with her (and my dad). Starting next week on Thursday, they'll go to a babysitter, when my mom returns to work.

My folks are actually taking the girls on a mini-vacation to visit some friends who live on a river 4 hours away. I'm really kind of jealous (I'd really like to go), but more than that, I'm already feeling the sting of missing my kids for so many days in a row. They're leaving early on Sunday, so I'm dropping them off Saturday night, and then they're getting in late Tuesday, so we won't get them until Wednesday after work. That's a long time to be here at home with no kids to make us smile...

The song in my head right now is the little prayer song we sing with the girls. It's to the tune of "Frere Jacques":

Thank you, Father, (repeat)
For our food, (family, friends, etc...) (repeat)
And our many blessings. (repeat)
Amen. (repeat)

*Let it be known that I do consider all moms to be working moms, whether or not they work outside the home. This reference should be interpreted as "working-outside-the-home-mom". Any offense taken by the reader is not the responsibility of the blogger. You know what I mean here, people.