Sailing through September

How in the world is it September 16th? Seriously! This month has BLOWN past me. I had hoped to write at least one blog entry last week. Then, as the weekend approached, I was sure that I would get caught up then. Suddenly, it is Tuesday night, and I have not written anything for nearly a week and a half. No wonder my head feels like it might explode. Unwritten blog pieces are screaming to get out. The scariest part is that I couldn't have written last week even if someone would have offered to pay me for it. I can't believe how busy I have been.

Somehow, little old narcoleptic me has managed to put in full days for over a week now. Starting on Monday, September 8th, I worked (or managed) 12 hour days (or more) for this entire period. Two of the days have been school work and then getting my daughter home and to volleyball practice. Two other days were school and going to my daughter's school for the distribution of computers for the new one-to-one program (yes, I am ridiculously excited about it). Another day involved a full day of teaching and helping at a football game. Even Saturday and Sunday were crazy with neighborhood clean up activities, curriculum planning, house and garage cleaning, church and my men's group. But, the two nuttiest days were last Tuesday, September 9th, and yesterday.

September 9th was already shaping up to be a crazy day. I had a full day of teaching, an acupuncture appointment, a chiropractic appointment and the first of three computer distribution days. The heightened stress came in when I realized that my car had died in the parking lot of Langford Chiropractic. My wife eventually arrived, and we jumped my car. I also knew that I would not be at the computer distribution. I figured my night would then get easier, but I was wrong. On the trip home, my radio and speedometer would die every time I turned on my headlights. Even more unnerving was the radio fading out periodically and then fading back in. Thus, I didn't even turn off the car when we got home. We simply headed straight to our mechanic. After dropping off the car, I desperately wanted to go get some food, but my wife needed to get home to our daughter. Thus, I felt rejected and let the wheels start to come off my wagon for the night. Somehow, I managed to avoid a huge fight with my wife - which was a good decision. We even had a chance to process the situation the next morning. She actually thought everything was "fine" from the night before. The best part, though, is that I did get to tell her what was upsetting me, but in a way and at a time that put neither of us in a bad place. As crazy as that day felt, though, it had nothing on yesterday.

My wife and I have decided that I am driving our daughter to school on Monday's. My wife teaches an early class, and I like helping in the morning once a week to offset the times when my wife needs to pick up our daughter. Because of this early trip on Mondays, I get to school before it starts. Ordinarily, that is great because I can get some work done (since I am always behind). Unfortunately, I was horribly behind yesterday (and still am). Yet, when I got to school, I knew I had almost nothing to give in terms of correcting. I did manage to get some other work done, though. I was active all day. My wife picked up our daughter to get her to a volleyball match, and I stayed at school to get my lesson planning finished for today. I worked constantly for three hours. When I finished, it ws time for "Back-to-School" night. That meant that I got to put on the teacher show for the parents of my students. Granted, we had an excellent time, but when I arrived home at 9:15 PM, I had been working for 14 hours. That is not the wisest thing that a narcoleptic can do.

The strange thing, though, is that I am surviving. I know that I can't keep this pace up, but I don't think that I will need to do that. The past two weeks have had a number of one time only activities. I still believe that I can get into a decent routine. More importantly, I know that I HAVE to get into a routine if I want to be a decent teacher, a great dad and an awesome husband. Having said that, though, I am proud of myself for working hard and for protecting time for me - even on the busiest days of the past week and a half. I am still horribly sleepy, but I am weathering it well.