Hug a Public School Teacher

Need I say more?

Really and truly, hug a public school teacher. These people work so hard for our communities and put in hundreds and hundreds of hours beyond contract time (with NO monetary recognition for extended hours).

Okay. Off the rickety, ol' soapbox (although I could honestly go on for hundreds and hundreds of hours...)

Today was a busy, busy, BUSY day. It started with the usual home routine consisting of kids, lunches, getting ready for work, early rising, etc. The babysitter arrived at 7:30 (daycare doesn't open until next Monday), and Mark and I were off to our classrooms.

Kind of.

Throw in several hours of meetings, hair-pulling, and heart palpitations over wondering how on Earth we will ever accomplish what we need to accomplish by the time students arrive and then you will have a little, tiny taste of what today was like. There was actually very little classroom time today. And I could personally use hundreds and hundreds of hours in my room!

There is NEVER enough time to prepare for the beginning of a new school year. Especially with budget cuts galore.

Sigh.

But, nonetheless I still found time this evening to get to the gym. I even shaved 45 seconds off my usual mile time, and I drank more water today than I normally do in a week! I believe my bladder thinks I'm pregnant again.

My favorite part of the day, however, was coming home (all hot and sweaty mind you. I had just shaved an impressive 45 seconds off my mile after all, hehehe) and having Jakey run up to me and give me a HUGE, HUGE hug. He had a great big grin on his face, too, and shouted, "Mommy's home!"

Oh, how I missed that little boy of mine! (Sophia was down for her second nap when I came home, but she was all smiles too when she woke up.)

I am blessed with happy, smiley children.

Simply put, they are the reason for the hundreds and hundreds of extra hours in the classroom because I know one day their teachers will put in that much overtime preparing for them.