2001-04-28
Commencement ceremony preparations, posted at 10:25 a.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com The last day at school passed, rather anticlimactically. I didn't cry. I had a nice day with the kids. My Seniors, in particular, spent all hour picking my brain, and I was happy to give them any of the tawdry info they wanted about college life now that I wasn't going to be their teacher anymore. There was still a sense of melancholy, but the emotional rollercoasting didn't return on Thursday.I'm almost moved out of my desk, but I'm still going to be around. I got a weeklong gig subbing for a 10th/12th grade English teacher the week after next. At first, I was excited about her saying I could do whatever I wanted with all her classes. Now, however, I'm thinking that I'm going to be paid the crummy $70/day pay rate for subs who only have to basically babysit, but I also am going to be lesson planning. Nevertheless, I'm looking on the good side of things.
Now, it's all sort of up in the air. I'm going to start applying to jobs now at a furious pace. I'm hopefully going to be substitute teaching most days. Sports camp training starts the first week of June, but (shhh... don't tell anyone) I'm considering the thought of resigning from my position before that occurs. If I can find suitable living arrangements before then, that's what I'll probably do. I just can't see undergoing my job searching and traveling to interviews while sports camp is going on.
Meanwhile, my folks are coming up on Sunday to see my student teaching commencement ceremony. I'm a little upset with my father. It was my mom's birthday on the 25th, and I called her, sang on her machine, and wished her Happy Birthday. I've got a gift all ready for her on Sunday. But dad is upset that I didn't send her a birthday card as well. Now, I haven't been able to see my mom on her birthday for the last several years, and have never sent her a birthday card. We always celebrate the weekend before or the weekend after.
This was dad's e-mail to me: "Your mother (you know, the one that you didn't have time to send even a cheap birthday card from her son! she was disappointed to say the least.) has a new Nextel that you can call or email.
(616) ###-####. dad." The thing is, I know my mom wasn't upset about it. It was only my dad. And there's nothing I hate more than mean little messages over e-mail, because there's no chance to respond and they just sort of simmer there. My dad has always been the king of not nice notes - now he does it over e-mail. Anyhow, I got my mother a wonderful present, and she's going to be happy with it. At a point in my life when I have to draw off of my credit card just to do laundry, I don't want to be yelled at for not sending a card when I've never done it before. To be fair, my dad's going through a rough time right now with my (paternal) grandma's bout with Alzheimer's, which is getting more and more severe. He's pretty much going to her home - which he grew up in - every weekend and moving stuff out of it, and sees her deteriorating at the nearby Presbyterian Village.
I am very much looking forward to this ceremony on Sunday, however. My grandparents, who are back in town after their Florida winter, are going to be there. I haven't seen them since their return on Wednesday, so that will be nice. I'm inordinately close with my grandparents on my mother's side, so I'm excited about seeing them for the first time in months. Also, I'm probably 25 pounds less since the last time they saw me, so I'm excited about them seeing me. My grandparents are health nuts and they'll be proud that I've finally become pretty much the same.
It's also always interesting when various facets of your life collide when they never have before. My family, my instructors, and some of my students are coming to this ceremony. Seeing all those connections made will be intriguing. It's one of those quasi-spiritual, six-degrees things that really interest me; none of those people will have ever met each other if it weren't for me.
Sunday will be a good day. Also in the last couple of days, I've been drawn to old friends. Nate called me out of the blue last week, and we've been trying to connect ever since. We finally did, sort of, yesterday, but we'll surely have a long conversation soon. I went over to Michelle's house, and she helped me with my teaching portfolio. She is so adult right now, it's scary. Married, with two dogs. She's still the same idiosyncratic Michelle, however. I miss seeing her everyday. Likewise, I miss seeing Tiffany as well - I had a long conversation with her on the phone last night. My onetime college roommate is a teacher aide in a kindergarten class, and is looking at where she wants to be in her life. She's in a similar spot to me right now, except she graduated with a Fisheries and Wildlife degree and only got into teaching after she graduated. Tiffany's a natural at it, though. I always could see that. She spent most of our conversation telling me about her kids. I'll be helping Jake move next weekend, and Jason will be along. I'm not sure if my upcoming move is catalyzing my reaching back to these older forces in my life, but I'm enjoying the nostalgic trip.