School is out and it's a sort of a buzz...

Yesterday was the conclusion to my 8th year of teaching middle school. Pretty good considering 50% of all teachers quit before their first five years, right?

 As far as school years go, this was a decent one- nice kids, new and improved solution for the special education students and some changes made to how we run ASB. That being said, I am still relieved to have a break.I think teachers look forward to summer WAY more than students do and I am fairly worn out from the end-of -the-year festivities.

 Last October, I began a Masters degree in Literacy (online), some of time will be spend writing papers, but mostly I am going to try to relax. I know this sounds simple, but I have some real issues with relaxing.

Take what has already occurred today for example:

 I awoke at around 8am (with NO alarm-amazing) and decided to head to a yoga class. What could be more tranquil  than yoga? After some deep breathing and stretching with (mostly) retired women (who were in surprisingly good shape), I left feeling invigorated. And proud of myself for actually being able to lay still during the deep breathing at the end of class.

The plan was to take Teddy for a walk, maybe do some baking and look at my homework assignment for the week. When I headed out the door of the yoga studio, rain pelted my face. Great, there goes the walk.

So what did I do? Proceeded to go home and begin cleaning...my ENTIRE HOUSE. See, I cannot sit still. It is not that I enjoy cleaning, but after a few minutes of watching "Sex and the City" I felt the urge to move and do something. Anything. Even clean.

As I am writing this post, I am wondering if my lack of ability to chill out is really an issue? After all, it certainly assists me a great deal in my career (one needs to be alert at all times when dealing with teen-agers). Also, who could spend an entire summer watching old re-runs on TV?

Instead I need to fill my summer with activities I enjoy and try to keep busy.

 I am going to make sure I have plenty of meet-ups with friends, weekend (or mid-week) getaways, some mini-adventures and a myriad of books to devour. In essence, I would like my summer to resemble the ones I read about or see depicted in the movies (if only we had a summer share in Hamptons). 

Not every job allows for six weeks of vacation, so I am determined to not take it for granted and truly make the most out of it this year.