The First Week

AND LET THE CRAZINESS BEGIN!!! Yes, sadly enough, I am back at school. Vacation's always seem to end too soon. And it was a good, relaxing vacation. Even though some part's of it were not fun (i.e. being sick for all of it and therefore not being able to see my friends until the end of it and the realization that...nevermind, I'm going to get in trouble for saying that...), it was still a fantastic vacation. My house is clean (which was a multi day project), we have a picture sun and cloud on our living room wall, and I got to spend a lot of quality time with Lance.

Even though I grumble about vacation being too short, it was actually sort of nice to be back in school. I really enjoy the people that I work with and for the most part, I really enjoy my kids. Granted, there are many days that I wonder why I chose to work for the employer that I work for and I love vacations, but for the most part I like my job. If I was at a different site and worked with different people (i.e. like my former second school), I'd probably be singing a different story. I really am fortunate. I think that's the main thing that I learned in 2005. That yes, I did work hard to get to where I am today but I owe a lot of it to me being...well, blessed. I was blessed with a wonderful husband who I met early in life and with wonderful and supportive friends and family. Even our house -- we didn't have to go through the agony of a lottery that you usually have to go through to get a new house in Hawaii. We were just at the right place at the right time. And my school. I didn't have to work hard to get placed at my school. I had to work hard to keep my placement, but I was fortunate to be placed there at all.

Anyhow, this entry was supposed to be about my first week back at work. On Monday we had a district meeting/workshop so no kids. The first half was incredibly boring, but Matt and I kept ourselves entertained by muttering inappropriate things about our speaker to each other. The second half of the meeting was on far more interesting topics so it wasn't so excrutiating. It was nice to talk to Jessica again, who I haven't really spoken to since graduation. I forgot how entertaining she is. Oh! I think the highlight of the day was when one of the SLPs (or was she a CA?) expressed in interest in Matt for her daughter. She was also interested in introducing me to her son and was surprised to hear that I was married. Oh, and my boss also referred to me as "the devious one." I must remember to hide that part of my personality a little more...but then, what fun would that be?

I had another workshop on Tuesday at my school so still no kids. The workshop was surprisingly very interesting. It only lasted half day, though, so I had the other half of my day to get some work done. I had a hard time, though, since it was my first day back. I did start setting up an augmentative communication device for one of kids and I had a lot of fun doing that. AACs really interest me. Perhaps I'll pursue that interest later on in my career.

WEDNESDAY. THE RETURN OF THE KIDS. Apparently, kids really need vacations just like adults do. A lot of my kids were loopy and cranky before the break, but most of my kids returned to school rejuvenated and ready to work. A lot of them seemed to have made some connections over the break and I was thrilled. I think that my kids need more breaks than the regular ed kids. I should give them intensive therapy for a month or so and then give them a week off. They really seem to need that away time to let whatever we've been working on sink in. I wonder if I could do research on that? I'd probably have to leave my current job, though, seeing as how my employer would probably flip out if I stopped services for a week.

Even though I've only been back at work for a week, the craziness has already started. I had a lot of paperwork and meetings to get through and just overall a lot of work to do. It never ends. I sort of enjoyed the first week back (but still, thank goodness for the weekend), but in two weeks I'll be ready for another vacation.