Things That Make Me Feel Old

1. Not being able to be fully energized by a mere 5 hours of sleep. Heck, even 6 doesn't do the trick. Nope, I need approximately 7.5 hours to beat that tired feeling...and at least 1.5 cups of coffee.

2. Sometimes I have to turn down the radio in the car. There are even times when I turn it off just to enjoy driving in silence. Seriously, the college version of myself would want to kick current self in the shins for that crime.

3. I get to places early...sometimes...not just at the appointed time or a little after. We're talking early enough to bust out a book or a Reader's Digest for a little while.

4. I have most of my lesson plans for next week already written, and some for the next 2 after that. I have even mapped out the themes of the school year for most subjects. I feel so....so....responsible.

5. I get aggravated with teenyboppers blaring their music or making me feel the bass from their music as they drive by our house. Sometimes I even complain aloud to my husband about how unnecessary and rude that it. And it's not even GOOD music! I can't even listen to more than 3 seconds of a lot of pop music these days. Yup, I'm a curmudgeon. But it were something like "Bohemian Rhapsody" or "Livin' On a Prayer", well, obviously that has to be turned up that loud.

6. The look on my students' faces when we are making a graph of how many of the people in our classroom are 5 and how many are 6 and how many are 25.

7. Having to say that I am 25.

8. Not always being able to remember my age on the spot.

9. Having a maiden name. And having so many friends with maiden names. These new names get confusing.

10. Being excited to "sleep in" until 7 and then get up to get lots of things done.

11. Being excited to go to bed before 11. Worse yet...sometimes being excited to be in bed not long after 10pm.

12. Falling asleep on the couch while watching a TV show.

13. Crocheting and watching TV mindlessly can be considered a perfectly relaxing way to spend some free time. 

14. Complaining/lamenting about the manners/trends/interests/icons/etc. of today's youth population...while not always understanding what some of the terms are. (Am I the only one who had no idea what twerking was when all of this VMA hype came up???)

15. Random body pains resulting from absolutely no rhyme or reason.


While I'm sure that I can and will add to this list sometime, I actually used blogging as a means of procrastination...not having done that in a long time also makes me feel old. But seriously, I need to go get things done. It's almost 8pm and that's basically past my bedtime now that I'm getting up there in years.

True Story

A Girl Can Get a Lot of Thinking Done in 2 Hours

I got to drive a two hour round trip today for a 10 minute meeting that I nearly missed (that's another story).

Lincoln brings back so many vivid memories. Even just the drive makes me nostalgic: I pass by the town I went to school in, and a little later I pass the first place I student taught.

[So really this post should be titled something along the lines of  "there's a lot of time for a girl to think and a lot of prompts to get a girl thinking in 2 hours."]

Life has been beautiful lately. I love my job, the people I'm surrounded by, and everything going on. It's a blur of planning and prepping school things, our house, and our wedding, but even in the stress and crazies of never having enough time I am overwhelmed with how wonderful these things are. I'm trying my best to soak up as much of it as I can and to remind myself of the beauty when it feels like too much.

I am in shock that time's gone by so fast, though. Now the end of the school year is just one week away.

Then comes the goodbyes.

When the door closes behind me when I leave after our closing service, I will no longer officially be a kindergarten teacher.
I will only have "my" classroom until I take my stuff out.
I will no longer be a rookie -- my first teaching job will be over.

I will walk down the steps and walk toward the steps to the next chapter of life...a new marriage, a new city, and a new job search adventure.

Thanks be to God. 

The kids will be singing this next week at our closing service. It's been stuck in my head with all of our practicing, but it's also been stuck on my heart.

Ready to Fly

Up way too late to get things done before leaving, as per usual. It merely increases the odds that I'll be able to nap on the plane a little.

But here are some fun facts about this trip already, kids.

I checked in for my flight already online to discover
1) it's a tiny plane...the kind with a row of single seats on one side of the plane and two on the other.
2) an empty single seat near the front of the plane.

Schwing!

It's not that I don't like to be social on flights. I don't mind. I just also find a sort of zen place while in the air. I love getting absorbed intermittently into staring out the window, music, reading, playing some games, or even just closing my eyes to get lost in my thoughts. It's kind of blissful.

I also got a coupon for $1 off/day. Okay, granted, it's probably like 2 days that I'll end up getting charged for, so it's $2 saved, but hey, I will take my $2 and use it for...um....snacks or coffee or something. Yeah. That evens out the raised prices of those things at the airport, right?

Unless, of course, I lose that stinkin' ticket thing. You know, they tell you to take it with you. I don't listen to that. I had a bad experience once listening to that. That's a story for another day, though...

For now, back to the last bit o' packing before some sleep...gotta keep up with a busy kindergarten schedule tomorrow as we continue making up for lost time with 2 snow days...eep!