OK, Sue is kicking my butt on this blog and I have to get in the game it seems! We're at the tail end, though, you know, of summer vacation...the teacher's golden egg. There are many teachers that work in the summer, and goodness knows the salary, in particular at SOME districts which will remain nameless, could use some augmentation. Still, I tend to subscribe to the money vs. time philosophy. Could I make more money in the summer, sure, but the regular school year gets so hectic. Summer is my unwind time, my creative time, time to play with my family and friends, time to tan and travel and cook and shop, time to read, and time to write. I mean, look at this blog. We'd never have started this with school year responsibilities piled up, but with summer relaxation in full swing, look what happened! We have a great thing started. To me, TIME is of equal, or perhaps higher importance to money, for the most part.

Time and money and salaries aside, though, we still have not uncovered why Sue is posting away, leaving me in the literary dust. Well I'll tell ya why, she is still on summer vacation! Me, oh joy of joys, I got to go in to work with my grade level team for the last two days. Now granted, the days were paid, and another teacher phenomenon is the whole "How are we making the money last until the first Sept. paycheck" dance, but paid at what cost? The cost was that I INSTANTLY ended my summer Zen as soon as I walked in that door.

Which leads me to a question. Why is it that it takes us so long to relax into summer vacation, or any vacation, but that we can spring right back to work mode with the flip of a switch? After the last two days, I am right back where I was in June... I have had this happen repeatedly to myself and have seen it in others firsthand. Vacation is coming, so you work like a dog to be sure you are caught up at work, or ready for the holiday the vacation encompasses, only to get sick over the vacation and lose half of your time. Or there is the option of travel while on vacation from work, which involves an inordinate amount of preparation, encompasses a tremendous amount of stress what with today's travel costs, restrictions, etc, and which produces, in the end, a more exhausted person than the one that left work in the first place. What was meant to refresh and replenish, exhausts and depleats...it is the classsic, "After my vacation I need a vacation." Still, we jump right back into our jobs and responsibilities with flawless precision, dog tired, but performing even in our collective states of fatigue. If only we could jump to vacation mode as quickly as we jump back to work.

This year at school that is my goal. I suppose I should alert my principal, that although she has my APPR goals neatly typed up and ready on her computer, and while her back to school letter outlined all of our "glorious" building goals for the coming year, I have a little something else in mind. I am going to TRY really hard to hold on to my summer glow. I am going to bitch less and laugh more. I am going to work hard, but remember to relax as well. I am going to do what I can each day, remembering that a day has a finite number of hours and I am only one person. And most of all, I am going to try to internalize Sue's and my philosophy so as not to get so busy in my career that I forget about my LIFE! You know, if I can really make it happen, what a gift to me, my friends and family, and ultimately, what a better teacher I will be. Only time will tell...

- Cheryl