Tales of Moving

I was sitting on the front porch swing the other night talking on the phone when my mother called me inside to dinner. Without thinking, I told my friend that I was being called to dinner.

“It’s not weird being back home?” my friend asked.

It isn’t…. most of the time.

After thirteen years of not living at home, I’m living with my parents for a few weeks until my house is move-in ready. Having not lived at home for so long, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was young when I moved out, and my parents set the rules until the day I moved into my first apartment as a married woman. I haven’t had their rules for a very long time, and though there still aren’t any rules, per se, there is respect for them as my parents and the gratefulness for their allowing me to stay here. It is awkward to be a mother living with my mother. Too much mothering going around some days that the children can take advantage of and not in any of the beneficial ways. Which is partly why it is a temporary living arrangement. Not to mention I have grown rather fond of my independence.

There’s also the little matter of no internet here. The first night I went to sleep early because I didn’t know what to do with myself when I couldn’t go online. The second night I picked up a book to avoid the withdrawal.

I’ve figured out that too much of my time is drained by being online. And though I will soon have it hooked up in the new house, it may be a good idea to limit some of my use. There’s so many things that I could be spending my time on besides glued to a computer that I think I needed the realization and the withdrawal to show me exactly how much time I’m wasting.

I’ve also experienced what it feels like to slow down and just spend time with people in simple conversation instead of rushing off to accomplish whatever is next on my list. I’m not likely to want to rush back into the hurried pace I keep to accomplish a to-do list just yet.

And though my move in date approaches, I think I will take advantage of this unexpected time with family as well as a little less technology.

Back to School, Again

If I needed a reminder that school is back in session, I would just need to check the status of my Facebook teacher friends. All of them have spent hours this weekend writing lesson plans. Welcome to the beginning of a new school year.

My first day of school Friday went smoothly. First days usually do. It seems that after the long summer break of not grading papers and planning lessons I have loads of patience. The maintenance of this patience is always the troubling area.

Usually every year I set some kind of goal that I try to work toward for the school year. The last two years it has simply been to make it to the end of the school year with my sanity firmly in place. This year I’ve decided to try and maintain those levels of patience that I tend to have in great quantities the first week of school.

This means that when the kid that wasn’t paying attention to me asks a question, I’m going to smile and answer it. When the student who has asked me for a pencil ten days in a row asks again, I will hand one over. When my journalism student tells me that they don’t have their story on the day that the newspaper is due, I won’t…. Well, that may be pushing the reservoir of patience that I have. Basically, I’m going to try to curtail my natural sarcasm with deep breaths and patience.

I don't really have a plan yet. I figure I will survive by taking deep breaths and reminding myself that patience will not raise my tension levels to astronomical proportions.  I'm not sure how you practice having patience any other way but by giving it a try.

I believe it is possible though. I know it is possible. I will tell myself that until May and see how it works.