Passing time

I am babysitting and while I should probably use this last half hour before I'm finished to write a grad school rationale or grade some AP public policy papers, I just don't have it in me. (To be fair, I did just finish posting responses on the grad school discussion board and grading a stack of institutions of government tests. So, I'm not a total slacker.) I thought that I might enjoy writing a quick post instead.

I don't know about anyone else, but my life has really taken off in the last two weeks or so. I don't mean "taken off" in a "I'm going places" kind of way. I mean that my life has begun to resemble some sort of circus and I am the poorly trained ringmaster, trying to keep the whole thing from imploding. Or I'm the woman juggling while riding a unicycle across the high wire. I'm not sure why I'm stuck on the circus imagery right now, but you get the idea: my life's a little crazy these days.

I know I have written about the craziness of my life before. And I know we all have crazy lives. But really. Throughout the course of the year, I would mention to people that I was teaching full time, leading my department, co-leading the high school team, going to grad school, and planning a wedding and they would look at me in amazement and comment on how crazy it was to have all of that going on at once. And I would agree because I figured they were right. And it has certainly felt crazy at times, but nothing - and I mean NOTHING - could have prepared me for how completely and utterly overwhelmed I have felt in the last two weeks.

You see, I am now four discussion posts, three papers, two weeks, and one rationale away from finishing my masters' degree program. I am also three months away from getting married. And 6 weeks away from my students' AP exam. And seven weeks away from seniors' final exams. And I am also one week in to the Presentations of Learning that every high school student in the school must give and that I am, with the assistance of my upper school team co-leader, organizing and running for the next two months. As I said, it's a lot.

The only way I know how to cope with this many major responsibilities is to schedule the hell out of my life. My planner, which is already color-coded, is starting to resemble a manuscript and my desk is overrun with to-do lists. I stay sane by keeping a very tight hold on everything going on right now and any attempt to wrest any of that control away from me could end very badly. So far, I am managing to appear normal (I think), but I'm hoping against hope I can keep it up for another few weeks, at least.

They're home! Time for me to go!