I should have felt rested on Wednesday following a long winter break. My district was merciful enough to grant us a day off the day before Christmas Eve, which is traditionally a half day. I had just had the luxury of eleven glorious days off, which was at least enough time to catch my breath. But when I woke up to find that I’d forgotten to set my alarm the night before, a wave of teacher-tired came flooding back to me.
Immediately when one oversleeps, in your mind you are already figuring out which parts of your morning routine you need to axe. I won’t make the bed today, I decided. No time to stretch. The dogs won’t get their walk. There was no time to see which students completed their online homework the night before. Coffee would need to be guzzled on the way to work.
As I fished through the sink looking for my Yeti coffee cup and the sponge, both of which were buried under a mound of dirty dishes, my brain immediately began to fill itself with the negativity that follows from skipping a morning routine. “Why is it that I’ve been back at work for two days, and already the entire house is falling apart?” I demanded as Doug stood by and waited out the clatter of the sink.
Doug knows not to try to communicate, reason or console while I’m having a tantrum. It was 7:51 a.m., I was late, and I had only nine more minutes before I was very late. So instead of his response, I heard the ding of a work email coming in.
It was from my school’s principal. The subject bar read: “Two-hour delay…more info to follow.”
I breathed. I leisurely finished my morning routine. And that day at school, five of my twenty-four students showed up. It was the easiest day at work I’d ever had.
The next day was Three Kings’ Day. Since it’s widely celebrated by the Hispanic population, my district takes it off while my own kids pile in to the Simsbury schools. Having the house to myself is a blessing, and it balances out the universe, since Simsbury takes off Rosh Hashanah.
Last night, more glad tidings popped into my inbox from my principal: “No school tomorrow, 1/7/2022”–sealing the deal on a four-day weekend after winter vacation. Not to mention, the best snow days are the ones you don’t have to set your alarm to find out about.
If I didn’t know any better, I’d say 2022 was going to be my year.