Teaching/Life/Checking In

We are about to finish the semester. This part-time gig I have teaching theater is not part time. It is full time plus. I love it. I'm invested. I care so much about the students and I work so hard. I'm the head of the theater department and I am writing all the curriculum and building the entire program. There is no guideline. They just trust me to make it great. I make tons of mistakes. I hate making mistakes. I try to move forward from these learning lessons, but sometimes they get me down.
I'm creating constantly though and I get tons of support from my administration and co-workers. I've just finished writing the basic curriculum for theater 2 and theater 3 which will be offered next year and I've chartered a Jr. Thespian troupe and on Friday I produced our first ever immersive murder mystery. We even got written up in the Denver Post. I've signed up for a broadway teacher workshop in NYC this summer and I'm probably going to run a camp at the school. I love it all even when I feel like I just can't do it all.
Work Life balance is hard. Michael is gone most weeks Mon-Fri. The kids' grades have plummeted without my parental oversight of homework. The end of the semester has been hours of makeup homework as they both realize how far they are behind.
I get up in the morning and get them off to school. Then I drive back, work out for half an hour, shower, dress, and sit down at the computer to grade, plan or maybe pay some bills. Occasionally I dash out for a mad, thirty minute grocery shopping trip. Then I go into the school and work and have meetings and plan and then teach. Then I have office hours and then I pick the kids up from after care around 4. (Except on Tuesdays where I have rehearsal until 4:30). Then I take the kids home, clean lunch kits, check the mail and supervise homework for an hour before driving them off to lessons. I rush back and prepare dinner, then go back and pick them up from lessons. Then we all sit at the table and do more homework while eating dinner. (I swear if they just did homework in after care instead of playing minecraft this wouldn't happen. Grrrrrr). Sam usually has time to disappear into the neighborhood with friends at this point. We are usually done with homework and Sam is back in by about 8 and then I force them to shower and get them tucked in bed to read. Sometimes I build a fire and we all sit and read together for half an hour in the living room. I love this. (I just finished Bel Canto and loved it. Recently I've also read the prequel to Practical Magic and BearTown).
Finally the kids go to bed and I crawl into my bed to read as I am too tired to do much else. Michael bought me an electric blanket the other day. I've been refusing to get one as I thought I would hate it, but I was wrong, wrong, wrong. I LOVE it and I look forward to climbing into a pre-warmed bed all day.
Friday nights Michael comes home and we play Catan with the neighbors and drink lots of wine and eat kettle corn and the gummy bears from Sprouts which are the best things ever.
Saturdays we usually do an adventure and end the evenings with a movie downstairs.
Sundays are UU church. We make an effort to go every week because Davis is in the middle of the coming of age program. Often we take a neighborhood kid with us. After church we sometimes go to the mall and eat lunch in the food court and let the kids linger in the lego store while Michael and I drink free cups of coffee at the Nespresso store next door.
It's cold outside lately, so my long walks with the dogs are far and few in-between.
Sam's headaches are much better and stay at a dull headache level rather than migraines with only occasional need for ibuprofen. Davis has finally found a friend group that he loves and he meets with them regularly at dungeons and dragons club and they all work together on science projects.
Life if good and busy. Michael still has his job, but it always seems perilous. I call my mama every day and we stay close. I miss my dad every day and I am at the point now where I can hold his memory close and it doesn't hurt so much. It's nice to be able to think of him. He loved Christmas so much though and some Christmas things just seem too sad this year. Still, I know he would love it for us all to be happy and so I try.
I will be happy to be with the whole family for Christmas.
And that's my check in.