2 more get-ups!
I feel like I can taste this upcoming vacation. It tastes like hot apple cider, sleep, pepper nuts and delicious food in Mexico that I haven't tasted yet.
These days I feel a strange combination of energy and exhaustion. On the weekend and in the evenings I move from one task to the next (candles! cookies! Wrapping and shipping! Choosing! Shopping! Planning! Laundry!) with enthusiasm that has Jake exhausted, unbelievably. Usually it's the other way around.
At work during the day, however, I'm just barely hanging on. I need a break from the kids, from the drama, from the constant problem solving and crisis management. Example: Yesterday, Grade-8-Girl-A came into my room very upset and wanting to talk. Considering she usually just acts out, this is a big deal. She proceeds to tell me that she is being bullied by Grade-8-Girls B,C, and D, who are in the same class. She feels lonely, she's cutting herself again, she's throwing up her food, she's so desperately unhappy you can almost smell it emanating from her pores. I hug her and stroke her hair, and tell her she's beautiful. I give her suggestions to replace cutting and purging - beat up your pillow, scribble REALLY hard on a pad of paper, write, listen to music, go for a fast walk or run. I tell her grade 8 is the worst and it will not be like this forever. Eventually she calms down enough that we can join the pep rally in the gym. Fast forward 20 minutes. Girl B happens to be walking towards Girl A, Girl A yells out 'BULLY!' in a taunting, mocking tone of voice, looking to provoke a reaction. Girl B whips around and with fire in her eyes spits out a string of words that are not family friendly and dripping in venom. I haul both of them to the office where I spend the next 30 minutes trying to get to the bottom of what has happened, only to get nowhere beyond 'She said... She said...' This morning, 7 adults sat around a table and tried to unravel the underlying causes and allegiances bubbling under the surface of the Grade 8 girls in the whole school and got nowhere significant. We even tried to draw a Venn diagram, but then realized we would need about 8 circles and that whatever we charted this morning would be null and void by lunch.
So!
2 more get-ups! And then hanging out with friends on Friday, family on Saturday and Sunday, one day to clean up and do laundry and then off on a break from EVERYTHING, including real life. Amazing.
P.S. Candle update: I made 18 candles with the beeswax I bought for $20. That brings the cost of each candle down to $3, including the glass. Not bad, eh? Also, we went to Ikea and I saw MANY tiny bowls that would GREAT as candles. After Christmas, that's what I'll be doing!
These days I feel a strange combination of energy and exhaustion. On the weekend and in the evenings I move from one task to the next (candles! cookies! Wrapping and shipping! Choosing! Shopping! Planning! Laundry!) with enthusiasm that has Jake exhausted, unbelievably. Usually it's the other way around.
At work during the day, however, I'm just barely hanging on. I need a break from the kids, from the drama, from the constant problem solving and crisis management. Example: Yesterday, Grade-8-Girl-A came into my room very upset and wanting to talk. Considering she usually just acts out, this is a big deal. She proceeds to tell me that she is being bullied by Grade-8-Girls B,C, and D, who are in the same class. She feels lonely, she's cutting herself again, she's throwing up her food, she's so desperately unhappy you can almost smell it emanating from her pores. I hug her and stroke her hair, and tell her she's beautiful. I give her suggestions to replace cutting and purging - beat up your pillow, scribble REALLY hard on a pad of paper, write, listen to music, go for a fast walk or run. I tell her grade 8 is the worst and it will not be like this forever. Eventually she calms down enough that we can join the pep rally in the gym. Fast forward 20 minutes. Girl B happens to be walking towards Girl A, Girl A yells out 'BULLY!' in a taunting, mocking tone of voice, looking to provoke a reaction. Girl B whips around and with fire in her eyes spits out a string of words that are not family friendly and dripping in venom. I haul both of them to the office where I spend the next 30 minutes trying to get to the bottom of what has happened, only to get nowhere beyond 'She said... She said...' This morning, 7 adults sat around a table and tried to unravel the underlying causes and allegiances bubbling under the surface of the Grade 8 girls in the whole school and got nowhere significant. We even tried to draw a Venn diagram, but then realized we would need about 8 circles and that whatever we charted this morning would be null and void by lunch.
So!
2 more get-ups! And then hanging out with friends on Friday, family on Saturday and Sunday, one day to clean up and do laundry and then off on a break from EVERYTHING, including real life. Amazing.
P.S. Candle update: I made 18 candles with the beeswax I bought for $20. That brings the cost of each candle down to $3, including the glass. Not bad, eh? Also, we went to Ikea and I saw MANY tiny bowls that would GREAT as candles. After Christmas, that's what I'll be doing!
I enjoyed the candle update P.S.
ReplyDeleteHave a great break!