Ok, I am psyching myself up for a serious post....it's not going to happen today, but I have a couple of thoughts in mind for tomorrow. Today is going to be a bit of a lame post. I stayed home sick today. Not sure what I may have picked up from my kids, but it kicked in last evening as I was finishing my last blog post. I was hoping that this morning would start with a fresh feeling. The morning shower didn't help. Since my son decided to open enroll to my new school building it meant that I needed to give him the 30 minute ride to school (that wasn't fun) and then turn around and head back to bed. I am not sure where or when I began to disillusion myself, but when I forgot to set my iPhone to "Do Not Disturb" and the e-mail bells kept going off, I foolishly decided to check my e-mail. Now, I have been a principal for a while now, and I know that there are some e-mails that can just wait, but I am in a new district and want to be seen as responsive. So, I checked my first e-mail and while it was not an emergency, I decided I could answer it with minimal time or effort....so I did. Then the next one, and as I was typing my reply, another rolled in that was of a little more urgency. Next thing I knew I spent 45 minutes checking e-mails. As I started questioning my actions a new thought jumped into my head. In the midst of packing and moving our family into a new town this past weekend, I totally forgot to send out my weekly update to the staff. Most of it was all ready to go, but I wanted to check a few dates, and add a couple of housekeeping notes that came in late on Friday. So, I went and grabbed my laptop and quickly finished up this project and sent it out to my staff.
So after doing that, I laid back on my bed and thought to myself, no wonder I rarely take a sick day unless it is to stay home look over one of my kids that are sick. It's the same reason I have mixed feelings about leaving the building for my own professional development. When you are a principal (and it is pretty much the same for teachers) being out of the building means that everything that keeps you busy during the school day, well it still takes place, and it will all be there waiting for you when you get back. Except.....when you go back, there's a whole new days worth of stuff that is going to jump into your lap as well. Why do I say, "jump into your lap?" Well, it is a lot like something jumping into your lap. Sometimes it is like your own children, its something that is a fun surprise, something comfortable, a familiar circumstance that isn't really a problem and sometimes even a joy.
However, sometimes it is that high strung nephew that jumps a little to high onto your lap when you weren't ready, and it takes you a few minutes to get your breath back all the while you are thinking, "Who brought this kid over to my house?" Well, I am feeling recovered enough that I will be back at it tomorrow. Granted, I do wish more school boards would look into the research that says kids would benefit from school hours being more like 9am - 4pm. But that won't change by tomorrow morning anyway, so I will battle through another day and prepare my lap for whatever may come my way. I will shoot for a more serious side tomorrow.
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