Yesterday was NOT GOOD.
After an Ambien-induced sleep, I quieted my alarm clock with no regard for time (or punctuality), and ultimately had to rush out of the house, unshowered, in order to make it to my 2nd period class on time. I zoomed into Balboa to print some materials out before the bell rang and immediately heard that one of my former co-workers (a special ed teacher who had taught at Balboa for six years and transfered to Mission High the year before last) had died unexpectedly. It's such a strange and complex feeling when someone youngish and healthyish dies suddenly--sort of topples my comforting little notion that if we eat good foods and exercise and practice caution in general that we will be okay.
Due to the pervading frenzy and sadness at school, I forgot to give my friend Meagan my house keys . . . Meagan was scheduled to go pick up Kita, our friends' dog, from my house, as I was going to be gone from 7 am until 10 pm. By the time I realized this, I'd already left Balboa and was in Marin at my doctor's appointment (bad thing # 3 of the day: doctor's visit and blood drawn).
Somewhere in between these events I managed to stumble upon pictures of my exboyfriend looking gorgeous and happy with his new girlfriend . . . and though it's my hope and goal to be able to feel the most genuine of happiness for him and everyone else I've ever loved, it was unsettling. Selfish, I know, but instinctual.
Exhaustion seems to exacerbate sadness, which is precisely what happened yesterday. After a long day of teaching/doctor/babysitting, I didn't get home until 10 pm, at which point I was thoroughly spent. And extremely thankful for the following things:
1. A mid-day pep talk from Gaela. How lucky am I to have one of my best friends in the world work across the hall from me?
2. Humor from students. I asked my kiddos to write down two concrete, measurable goals they'd set for themselves in the new year and then share them with the class. One of them pronounced: "My goal is to become involved with a cougar." ha!
3. Spending the afternoon with this little fellow:
4. My sweet neighbors who kindly took the dog out for me while I was with the young Milo Freitag (pictured above).
5. A hot, relaxing bath. How do people function without bath tubs?
Here's hoping today will be better! I'm gonna take the pup on a hike and rock out to my New Years playlist (+ Jodi's suggestions), so things are lookin' up . . .