Last Day of School!

Teaching is a very cyclical profession. I'm glad for it. There are celebrations built into the calendar, and it really gives a very nice rhythm to a year. There is excitement and anticipation in the Fall for the school-year to come. And of course there is excitement and anticipation (relief, ecstasy!!) for the Summer when school is finally all over for one more year. There are fun things in between, of course, but nothing quite compares to the highs of the beginning and the end.

Today is the last day of school for the 2009-2010 school year in our district. I woke up about an hour ago, nearly tingling from excitement. How can I sleep when there are so many happy thoughts running circles in my head?

What's really funny to me is that the things I'm thinking about are not so much what I have to do to close out this year as much as the things I'm looking forward to for next year. A couple evenings ago I looked through my single-copy music library (which right now is a couple of hanging file boxes). That is such a nerdy thing to do, and I just love doing it. Anyway, I'm already picking out music for next year, and really getting excited about it. Having just one year under my belt is helping me so much in getting organized. I'm actually thinking of pieces I want to use for UIL (which isn't for 10 more months!!) so that I can start teaching them in the Fall. That's a risky move, but one I think I'd like to try. The risk is burn-out on the song. The up-side is that by the time contest rolls around, they can sing it in their sleep, because they've been working on it for so long.

Having these kinds of thoughts makes me feel like such a nerd. But you know what? That's OK. I know who I am, and I'm happy. My nerdiness is my secret advantage... OK, maybe not so secret. It's just one of the ways I look at where I am as a total God thing. God made me for this job. He is fulfilling many of my heart's desires in this job. God is good to me, and I can never forget it.