Teeter Totter

One month ago today J and I got the call about Clio.
(Approximately) one month from now we will hold her in our arms for the first time.
Tomorrow, the faculty, staff and students of my former school will begin classes.
I will be waking up at 10 am, doing laundry, quilting and watching the Olympics.

Transitions are hard enough, but long, drawn-out transitions are torturous. I wish I could go to school tomorrow (although the waking up at 5:30 am part was never fun) and talk about literature all day. One of the perks of being a teacher is that the busyness of a semester sweeps you up in a wave of time and deposits you neatly into another vacation. Yeah, so part of that wave is grading innumerable essays and nagging students about uniform violations, and again, waking up at 5:30 am (hit the snooze button) 5:39 am (bam!) 5:48 am (wham!) 5:57 am... At this point I must stop and thank J for being a wonderful husband and always (when he was in town) making coffee around 5:30 so that when I finally rolled out of bed I was able to perk up and get ready by 6:40 when I had to leave for my 45 minute commute. Back to my original point, part of me wishes that I were going back to teaching. I would be so busy that September 22 would arrive in the blink of an eye. Plus, my students were/are bright, challenging young women and the faculty and staff at my school are wonderful people. I miss them.

It's like that Britney Spears song, "Not a Girl..."

I'm not a Mom, no longer an English teacher (go ahead, try to sing it)

Thank goodness I have an awesome trip to look forward to. I'm flying into D.C. on Thursday, visiting with Jen (college roommate, bridesmaid and BFF extraordinaire), who happens to be (surprise!) newly preggo with her second baby after having her first this past December. She's more than a little freaked out, as you can imagine, but she's a wonderful mother and she will "make it work," I am sure. I'm psyched that I'll get to hang out with her while she's raising a 7-month-old and struggling with morning sickness concurrently. I know how to change diapers and do laundry, so I'll be a welcome guest, I hope. :)

Then I get to drive up to Maryland and visit with Deanna, who started out as an iParenting friend way back in 2004 when J and I were TTC. She and I had very parallel journeys for quite awhile until she got her BFP a month or so before J and I got the call about Lucy. She is one of the sweetest people in the world (hyperbolic, but true)...even my crazy grandma thinks so. (She's also funny and a great writer and you should read her blog if you don't already.) Anyhow, because my grandma lives in Virginia and I make regular trips to see her, I've gotten to see Deanna every single summer for the past three years and I was going to be very sad to give up that tradition this summer, so I'm thrilled to be able to see her after all. Yay for frequent flier miles and hotel points!

After I return home next Tuesday, however, I'll go back to quilting and dusting baseboards and pulling nut sedge out of the lawn. Yawn. I'm off to watch the Olympics with a glass of wine.