Happy (belated) Fat Tuesday!

In the middle of a rather stressful week (OK, just the second day of it…), I noticed that the shelves at the grocery store were lined with paczkis. I guess you can’t get them everywhere, but paczkis are extra sugary, extra fatty jelly doughnuts. And it is everyone’s religious duty to eat them on fat Tuesday.

Well, I’m a sinner this year. I’m doing much better at not failing at this diet (I’m eating well, although I haven’t lost a single pound!). I thought that indulging in this doughnutty-goodness would be the start of a slippery slope. So I abstained.

However, the fact that Lent has already begun makes me happy. Not because I’m giving anything up (heck, I’m already on a diet!). But because it means the countdown to Easter has begun. And Easter means spring break. Which is when we plan to do the work on Moonraker. Which will launch less than 2 months after that.

So, paczkis are a divine sign, that the time of Moonraker is near. A little ray of hope, during the February dreariness.

5 Reasons to Love January

Every season has its perks, and you already know how much I love this time of the year. The stretch of winter, between Christmas and Spring break, has a certain comfort that the other seasons lack.

Here are 5 reasons to love it:

1. There is something comforting about just everyday life, without all the running around that surrounds the holidays.

2. If you live somewhere where you get snow, there’s usually MORE of it!

3. The days are getting longer.

4. The new year is fresh, filled with possibilities.

5. With every day that passes, we get closer to summer.

So start a fire in the fireplace, make some hot cocoa, and enjoy the coziness that starts off the new year!

Changing of the Seasons

The best part of my job, teaching, is that it flows with the seasons. Each change brings with it new excitement, new challenges, and new delights.

I love summer. With it, I have the freedom to pursue my passions–namely, sailing. While I was disappointed that we were not able to sail as much as I had hoped this past summer, we learned a great deal. Summer is the time I take Beanie to therapy, and it is always a good mother-daughter bonding time. She’s my little buddy in the summer!

But now fall is upon us. The leaves are turning red, and tomorrow I return to work. Fall is my new year. It is a time of meeting with my new teaching partners, planning, and meeting the students. It is a time of promise, of goal-setting, of potential. This fall, Beanie will expand her “mother pie” and begin to form relationships with adults outside her family, her teachers and aides at school. It is a bittersweet time, but exciting all the same.

All through the fall, we will be preparing for winter. Living above the “snow belt,” part of this is merely survival. We will be setting up our basement as living quarters and purchasing a woodstove. We will prepare for Christmas, so that it will be a joyful, rather than stressful time. We will fix up our cars, so that they will be ready. We will keep the fridge stocked and lots of entertainment on hand, as we will inevitably be snowed in some days! Winter is a time of student achievement, of holiday projects, and of watching 9 and 10’s homepage for school closings.

Then, the snow melts, and we think about spring break. It is a time to get Moonraker ready for that elusive launch date and prepare for our life on board. It’s about looking back, seeing how far the students have come, and planning for next year. It’s time for Beanie’s IEP meeting and reflection on her progress.

I know I am privileged to have a job, and a life, that revolves around the seasons. Yet, I think everyone would do well to take note of the messages nature is giving us throughout the year, and the opportunity for a new beginning that is presented to us each fall.