Wake Me When September Comes

Crisp, cool mornings hint at fall, but soon roil into sunny hot afternoons that confirm it is still summer. August is a month of waiting. Mountain bike season is over for me, but cross has not yet started. For the first time in 11 years (minus one to get my Master's degree), I won't be going back to teach this fall, so the anticipation of cross season is unhampered by the end of summer vacation freedom.

Teaching is so much a part of me though that I already had one of those anxious back-to-school dreams. My colleague Doris-Ann (who incidentally had also moved into my house) shook me awake one morning to ask me to sub for her; she'd come down with the flu. I love Doris-Ann, and was anxious to help, but I was just SO TIRED!

I suppose the exhaustion after last cross season's fray of travel and work still haunts me. Ok, there was a certain bad-ass pride I took in pulling off things like landing in Brussels at 10am with bikes dismantled and racing a World Cup 3.5 hours later. However, that schedule was simply not sustainable, and as many of you know, I decided to take a one-year leave of absence from my position as a 7th grade Spanish and French teacher.

Regardless of the challenges of juggling two "careers," the dream was a funny way of reminding me that teaching is full of moments I will miss:

One of our favorite projects of the year, writing Spanish versions of Dr. Seuss' "There's a Wocket in my Pocket" and reading them to elementary students:

As cliché as it is, just seeing students "get it" is the best feeling, and when they make beautiful art to show how much they've learned, it's even better:

Besides, they are just hilarious...like when they invented "Verb Mutants" by mixing and matching verb phrases and illustrating the mix-ups: