My Bucket is (finally) Full Again.

I desperately needed this weekend.  I needed downtime, family time, a day without school and a long nap!  I needed a day with laughs, and even a couple cries.  I needed to remember that I am not only a teacher; First and foremost I am a wife and a mother.  I tend to forget those sometimes.  How can I forget to put the most important things in my life first?

Well, to understand that, you have to be a teacher.

For 8 hours a day, I am a mother, nurse, counselor, mentor, and teacher to 26 kids who I did not carry for nine months, nor did I raise them to be the people they are at this point in their lives.  They are not my own, but I claim them as mine.  They are mine for only 9 short months, but within these first 3 weeks, (even with all of the voice-raising and frustration on my part), I am growing to love them as my own.  I have 9 months to shape them.  To teach them.  To model love and citizenship for them.  To set an example of what a good person is.  To teach them that even when no one in the world encourages them or tells them they can succeed, that I truly believe they can.

Is this easy?  No.  It is by far the hardest job I've ever had.  Being a mommy to my own baby girl is hard, but being a mother hen to 26 students for the entire school year is harder.  Why?  Because loving my daughter comes easily.  It is a God-given, unfailing love.  Growing to love new students every year is hard.  It grows through steady relationship building, good times, and lots of hard times.  It is sacrifice, planning, organizing, encouraging, motivating, and teaching.  I grow to love my kiddos every year.  It will happen this year, it is just taking a little more time.

I was empty.  I was completely drained in almost all aspects of my life.  I needed this weekend to fill my bucket...to fill me up when I had completely drained myself.  Implementing Common Core, a new teacher evaluation system, and trying to do 1000 things at once had me worn down to my core.

But I am better.  I needed to be reminded that no matter what, I am a wife and a mother FIRST.  School can wait.  Grading papers, making necessary changes to curriculum and my classroom can wait.  Mastering every procedure and making parent phone calls can wait.

My daughter and husband can't.

I am grateful for the reminder that 'we make time for what we love'.

Don't forget to put what you love first.

Jamie
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