It's the most wonderful time of the year...

And no, I am not talking about Christmas.

And that means a LOT, coming from me...lover of all things Christmas.

In fact, I start counting down until Christmas in September. Sometimes earlier.

But no, I am not talking about Christmas.

I am talking about that sweet little perk-o-my-job called SUMMER BREAK!

One week separates me from staying up late, doing what I want, wearing sweats all day, sitting outside, and of course hanging with my baby girl all day long. The thought that some teachers I know are already out of school makes me want to upchuck my lunch, but I know that I am lucky to even have a break at all. I know other professions aren't as lucky. I honestly don't know what I would do if I had to work during the summer. Yick.

I think the teachers are just as ready as the kids for summer. Scratch that. I think the teachers are 100 times MORE ready than the kids for summer. My students have summer-itis like whoa and I can't get them snapped out of it enough to care about stratus clouds or the Indiana General Assembly or 2 digit divisor division. Nope. I just can't.

But does that keep me from trying? No.

Does it keep me from banging my head against my desk as I grade a paper that says that the country we live in is Indiana, the county we live in is Knox, and the continent we live on is USA? Also nope.

I found out today that a parent was talking about me behind my back. This makes me sad. This makes me angry that I leave my baby every morning at 6:30 a.m. and don't see her until near 5:00 p.m. to try and do good things in my classroom...only to find out that I am still not "good enough" or doing things "well enough" for this parent.

Sigh.

One week. One week. One week. Then a fresh start for next year. If there's one thing I know for sure, any subsequent children that I will be vivifying in the future will be born during the month of May or June so that I can safely take the rest of the year off and not worry about having to come back to clean up the mess of a maternity leave.

I thought I was making a wise choice...coming back and all. I don't want to walk away next week and regret it. I don't think I will. I just have to hold my head up high and know that I honestly and truly put 110% into my job and this actually is not just a "job" to me...otherwise I would not have come back this year. This is a career I have chosen. A career that I care a lot about. And a career that I will be happy to take a little break from come June 4th at 3:10 p.m.

One week. One week. One week.