Best Laid Plans

I think that I stay up much later when I am on vacation because I want to savor as much time off as I can. I do it every time and it always backfires on me because the later I stay up, the later I sleep in the next morning. I then take hours to get myself motivated to get going. This week I had great plans of grandure. I was going to do lots of things around the house and do a lot of lesson plans and my report cards. Well, here it is late Friday night (really 2:29 a.m Saturday) and all I have done is been mom's taxi service and miraculously I cleaned out one closet. The house looks the same and my school bag is in the same corner I threw it last Wednesday night (untouched). It has taken me almost 25 years to realize that I am much more productive when I am working. During school days I am up at 6:15. I get showered, dressed, make lunches, get everyone else up and out and I'm out the door by 7:45 and I'm at work by 8:30. I teach all day. I run errands on the way home. I carpool with my daughter and her friends to dance class. I make dinner. I clean up dinner. I do lesson plans. When I'm home. I do hardly any of this. And I always tell myself "I'm going to get a lot done this week". I would make a lousy housewife! Well I've got two days to complete my "to do" list. I know I can just see myself now late Sunday night doing my report cards and my lesson plans (they are due Monday morning to the principal). This is exactly what I tell my kids not to do. I should listen to my own advice. Is there anyone else out there that does the same thing? Please share.

It's Been A Long Time

Wow! I haven't written on this bog in 4 years. I have to confess that I really felt I was running out of things to write about. But in reality I had loads of things to share but could not bring myself to write about them. My family and I have been on quite a journey these past 4 years. There have been many highs and lows. Unfortunately there were more lows than highs. There have been lay offs, changes in my teaching position, health issues with family members. The biggest and ongoing situation is my middle son's battle with drug addiction. With all of this I struggled to feel gratitude toward anything in my life. With this feeling of emptiness, we fell deeper into a slump. We struggled with our son to get him help. It is difficult to help someone who doesn't want help. This was coupled with my husband being laid off. This is probably when I should have been writing the most and yet I just couldn't bring myself to do it. However, we never gave up. We managed to bring ourselves together and stuck together as a family with great love. That is the one thing that never faultered. I truly believe it is the one thing that has helped us get through everything. My husband now has a great job with great monitory opportunities. Although my son adimently refused rehab, we were able to get him help with a great counselor that he sees every week. He has taken himself off of the misuse of prescription drugs, we are working to get him to stop smoking pot. His school has been supportive in allowing him to complete high school at home by doing the assignments at home. He has completed all of his work on his own with some minimal help. He is scheduled to graduate with his class in June. He hopes to attend a community college in the fall. He has had a couple of jobs but they were temporary and didn't quite work out. Tomorrow he wants me to take him to fill out more applications in the hope of getting another job. All of this is a step in the right direction for him.
We did have a series of good things happen as well. My older son graduated high school in 2010 and has been attending college on a half scholarship. My daughter is now a teenager. She does very well in school and has been on the honor roll many times. She has also been a member of her dance studio's competition team. She has become quite the beautiful dancer.
It has been difficult for us the past 4 years but our love is what got us through it successfully. It is the love that we have for eachother that I am most grateful for. This is what I have come to realize today as I begin to write in my gratitude journal again. I hope to continue and I hope that you will continue this gratitude journey with me. What are you most grateful for? Please share.