Florida in January

I realized last fall that it was the first time in almost 25 years that I was not preparing for school in some capacity or another.

As a Kindergartener, I was excited to get on that yellow bus but also intimidated by the big kids that surrounded me. Ooh, bus rides can be cruel. Throughout the years I had grown out of being excited and became more bored, wishing for the day I could drive myself. College was different. One fall I packed my things in the evening, expecting to leave first thing in the morning, but since I was so eager to go, I decided to drive through the night. After college I went straight into teaching elementary and middle school band. I loved the job and working with the little ones, but I must admit, I experienced a little bit of dread when the calendar broke into August or when I would glimpse a yellow bus on its way to the shop. Grad school followed that and the thousands of things that needed to be done in an impossibly small amount of time consumed all of my energy.

And so, I took a deep breath last fall. I watched the hectic parents and students grabbing school supplies. I smiled at the sight of teenagers slouching at bus stops. I waved at the bus as it passed. It was like golfing during a business day, or enjoying a Florida beach in January. Oh what a feeling of freedom and peace.

Now it appears that I'll be heading off to Case (Western Reserve) in Cleveland this August to work in the Music Department as the Music Tech specialist. I'll be running the lab, the Mac server, and the multimedia classrooms, and I'll get some teaching in as well.
Ooh, I need to go get some school supplies.