Summertime Teachers

Tiny Town doesn't have summer school. If they did, I would probably be teaching it. Instead, I am channelling my teaching skills in other ways.

I have been filing, storing, and trashing paperwork that I have been storing too long in my daughters' bedrooms. Unlike teaching, I boxed up what was left and delivered it to my daughters' homes. I'm sure they were thrilled.

At the end of the school year, I was cleaning out cupboards and closets for the teacher who is teaching in the room next year.  At home, I cleaned out closets and cupboards for my own benefit.  My husband was surprised to see there was a floor in one closet. It was pretty awful prior to the cleaning.

For my new classroom, I cleaned and weeded out things that I wouldn't need.  I gave quite a bit to the art teacher.  At home, I sold quite a few furniture pieces and household goods on a garage sale. Things were priced to go--and they did. Both places are now a bit emptier, and I like that. (Clutter makes me tense.)

I'm still getting up early to walk, though it is 5:30 in the summer and 4:30 during the school year. Unfortunately for them, people can see me walk in the summer-- rolling out of bed and out the door means no makeup or hair combing. It isn't pretty, but no one knows during the school year when it is too dark to see.

At home there is a stack of books on the table beside my chair and another on the dining room table. At school the stacks are always on the counter or a back table. There is always something that needs reading or grading. Piles--there are always piles.

I'm so used to schedules, that I schedule in the summer, too: appointments, vacations, lunches with friends, even hikes at a different trail every week. Yes. I admit it. Just like at school, I have been researching trails, too. Success is always in the planning. It works at school, so I figure it works at home, too.

In the summer I've been known to shush people in movie theaters, caution kids about running at the pool, and stare down an elevator full of teenagers who have pushed the button for every floor.  (Not all of my skills are appreciated, I'm sure!)

Teachers are teachers are teachers- whether we are in school or not. Is it in the DNA?