Dear Diary,
My day was incredibly busy today; I barely had a chance to sit down. I did, for about ten minutes to scarf down my lunch before returning to tasks that needed my attention. By the time I had arrived home, my school day had closed my standing and move rings, and I was more than halfway to meeting my exercise ring on my wellness tracking watch.
I want to start by noting how genuinely kind my new-to-me principal is. Some of my colleagues have shared this with me in the past, but to experience it myself has been a delight. She does run a tight ship, as a principal should, but it seems like she would do anything in her power to help someone if her help was needed. I appreciate this in a leader. My other principal has also shown kindness in ways beyond measure over the years, from having her girls babysit our children when we had family emergencies, to bringing up meals at the time of a death in our family.
As I sit down to write this, my mind is weary from my day and I am having a difficult time focusing on my reflective practice. I even had the thought of writing “I’m too tired to write today. Talk to you tomorrow,” but I need this time to process my thoughts from my day to keep my mental health in check.
I can’t go without sharing how I’ve earned the mom of the year award with both of my kids this week. Mom of the Year sounds rewarding, but it’s in sarcasm that I title this award. In the last two days, I’ve screwed up for my children. Yesterday, as soon as I arrived home, Oscar, my kindergartener, told me right away that I had forgotten to pack his snack, and that he had to keep his mask on during snack time. The hurt in his voice was startling. He felt left out, and I caused that to happen. He was so jacked that he shared with Doug when He picked up the kids from the sitter, too. This afternoon when I arrived home, Estella informed me that I had taken some stapled packets out of her folder last night, when they were suppose to return to school. She’s been getting so many assessment packets coming home from school in the last few weeks that I thought I’d take them out and look at them later this week. Doug told me otherwise. They went back in her folder after she told me. To add to her frustration of not having what she needed for school, we had forgotten to pack her spelling homework that was due today. She told me, in her future parent or leader voice, that we will have to begin writing “Spelling Due on Thursday” on our weekly calendar of events so that we do not forget it again.
I have not had the experience of much tattling to this point, and I think that it all waited to happen today.
My husband recommended that I listen to an episode of “This American Life.” I was able to listen to about half of it on my commute today. It was relatable on a level that I have not heard reported by any other media source, when it comes to education in the current pandemic. If you are tuning in to my diary, I encourage you to also tune in to episode 715: Long-Awaited Asteroid Finally Hits Earth, published on August 28, 2020 by This American Life.
Well…there is more on my mind, but I can’t think and type anymore. I could go to sleep and not wake up until breakfast tomorrow morning. Sorry for any spelling errors – no proofreading today. I don’t even care.