Reminders

I spent today subbing 6th grade math/science at a school I spent 2 days in last month. By a stroke of luck one of my blocks was the exact group of kids I had last month and it's always fun to have students you recognize (one of the luxuries not usually associated with substituting). The crazy part was that when these students saw me in the hallway they all cried, "Hi Ms. Cocita!" and were really excited to see me. I had them for a cumulative total of about 3 hours more than 4 weeks ago. But they remembered my name. And they were happy to see me. Wow. How little it takes to remind me why I do what I do.

A couple weeks ago I ran into 3 former students all in the same night. The same thing. Of course I expect these students to remember me, but it always fills me with warmth and fulfillment I can't totally explain to hear a student say, "We really miss you!" or "We talk about you all the time." or "You were my favorite teacher." And that's what happens when I run into students at the grocery store or outside Barnes & Noble. This is why I do what I do.

In case I needed any more reminders, I rediscovered this article from Oprah magazine that brought me to balling tears the first time I read it. I am a teacher. I change lives. This is how I know: To Sir, With Love.

Happy

It feels weird to just say it like this, but right now I'm really happy. For months I've been trying to be upbeat, positive, and optimistic. I was really trying to live in a way that would bring positive results. Fall was kind of rough because of the whole no-real-job thing, but Argentina realigned my priorities. When I got back I really started to take my vow to pursue the life I really want to live and take opportunities as they become available more seriously. Now it feels like everything is coming together and my life is beginning to look the way I've wanted it to for a long time. Here are some reasons for my current good mood:

* Social Life - I'm reconnecting with old friends via the book club. I've repaired an old friendship recently. I'm going to my third Young Dems event this week and am starting to feel more comfortable doing this on my own. My credential friends (The Divas) and I have established a pattern and are actually seeing each other with relative frequency. I feel like I'm doing things.

* Work - I actually got two days of sub work last week. One more and I will have worked more in February than all of January already. I don't really like single-day substituting because of my theory that it's basically the same thing as waking up and realizing that the naked-at-school dream is your actual life, but at least it's work. Plus, every day I'm one day closer to my second long-term position and I'm really looking forward to that.

* Reading - All this time I spend not working means a lot of time to read. I've been reading a lot of political news and this week I actually read a book again (the first in a while - The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta). I always find that I'm calmer, happier, and generally more amiable when I have a book to read. Reading centers me. This book club is part of that, too. Plus it makes me feel smart.

* Music - I'm actually playing my instrument again. After years of talking about wanting to go back to it, I've actually started practicing and I already notice some of the ability coming back. Don't get me wrong, at this point I completely suck in comparison to what I used to be able to do, but I don't care because I really enjoy it. Seriously. I can play about an octave and a half and overall it sounds pretty bad but I'm just so freakin' happy the whole time that it doesn't even matter.

* Exercise - I'm really proud of myself for how much work I've been doing. I feel healthy and happy that I'm doing something for myself. I worked out 6 times this week. That's awesome!

Last year I told my students that if I didn't get a full time contract I would spend this year doing all the things I don't have the time or energy to do when I'm teaching. It now feels completely true. I'm just so HAPPY! Leave comments, that makes me happy, too. Oh! And listen to all the new songs on the playlist I added. :)

Book Club

Okay, so I'm totally excited. Ever since I got back from Argentina I've been totally obsessed with Facebook, a phenomenon that has not been true of my life since the last semester of college when it was brand new at LMU. Because of this I have reconnected with some of the most unlikely people and really seem to be bringing old friends back into my life. Case in point: several girls I went to high school with and I have decided to form a book club. First we just gushed about how addictive the Twilight series is, but it seems like we're all looking for reading buddies and the kind of literary conversations we got to have in senior English class and haven't had anyone to do this with. I like this book club development for three reasons: 1) Reading for fun, not work, and on a consistent basis. 2) Reconnect with old friends - always fun. 3) Create NEW topics of conversation with old friends, an essential part or else it's just rehashing of high school dramas, reminiscing and old inside jokes and all of that can only last so long before it's just awkward. I'm optimistic right now, so let's hope this actually works the way I want it to.