Feel the Love...

I went to lunch today at a restaurant and then I went to the mall and then I went to the grocery store. I saw A LOT of people out and about. On more than one occasion, I thought, "Do you people have a job? Why are you not at work?" I said this out loud only once.

My least favorite thing this time of year is knowing that I must return to work in a few short days. It is very bittersweet. I can't wait to get back to what I love doing, I can't wait to meet the little people that I'll spend months and months with, I can't wait to organize and decorate my classroom, I can't wait to become a better teacher. But these excited feelings are conflicted with feelings of busyness, ineptness, and the loss of my lazy summer.

My favorite thing this time of year is watching mothers at the restaurants, malls, and grocery stores that I visit. They have a look of derangement in their eyes and I catch them pleading with their children through clenched teeth, "STOP IT! DO YOU HEAR WHAT I'M SAYING TO YOU? I JUST TOLD YOU TO...!!!!!!!!!!!!"

All is right in the world. Mothers cannot wait for school to begin so they can send their precious little terrors back to the teacher for the bulk of the day. And I cannot wait to receive these precious brains into my classroom. Quite the stark reversal from the end of May: mothers couldn't wait to recieve their children and begin the summer, and I (the teacher) was the one pleading with the child through clenched teeth and with eyes as wide as the horizon, "BECAUSE I SAID SO! JUST STOP IT!"

I can't wait!