Schools Out!

It's that time of year again. The school year is done. Students rushed out to their buses screaming, and smiling. The last week of school stretched into an eternity as the teachers struggled to maintain control, and the students realized that the teachers were at their wits end.

I looked back at my blog to see what I had written last year around this time and there was nothing. It's odd. Last year this time I was wrapping up what I thought was going to be my last year teaching. Sara and I had plans to move back to Chicago, and hoped by the end of the Summer to make that happen. I wrote nothing of this. I didn't mention leaving the School, granted I had planned to still work the Summer School session, but I didn't comment on leaving, or the students or even what I would do next. I don't know why.

Shortly after that my mother went back into the hospital and never came out again. My Summer was spent preparing for and then grieving the loss of my mom. I guess I didn't have time to focus on my feelings about leaving the School. Then, over the next 7 months or so I struggled to find a job, struggled to make money, struggled to get back on track. The plan to move back to Chicago was put on hold for the foreseeable future. Talk of grad school faded, washed away by a deluge of debt. Things didn't seem to be going our way.

Then I found my way back to teaching. Granted, I am not teaching drama and music as I was before but I was able to substitute in the classroom. Suddenly, I was Mr. Cobb again, and the students had missed me. Now I'm back to being a contracted employee, and working with students on a daily basis and most of the time it feels right. Money is still an issue. The commute is draining me and killing my car. The economy has snatched away my 2nd job, at least for the next few months, and I don't know what we're going to do to improve our situation. I guess we'll keep plodding along, and hoping for the best.

I'm happy to be back at the School. I'm happy to have a teeny tiny break, a week, before I have to go back and get ready for the Summer session. It will go by to fast and before you know it I'll be in the thick of things, halfway through the school year but I guess that's just how life goes.