Loose Ends

I am on my third cup of coffee for the day.

I didn't realize it was number three, but alas.  That is what happens in the midst of The Second Week of School Daze. 

This 5:30 am rise-and-shine is not agreeing with me just yet.  Today, for the second time since The First Day of School I awoke in a cold sweat thinking I'd overslept.  It was 3:00 am.

I have no clue what I'm doing tomorrow in class.  Thank you, unproductive weekend.

I'm already behind on the paper-grading.


But despite all of these loose ends, Life in Room 210 is really good.  Really, really good.  I'm loving this year's group of students already.  They are funny and quirky and silly and shy the way all ninth graders should be. 

I can already tell my funny boys, my know-it-alls, my hard-to-get-to-knows, my shy little girls.  I am learning the personalities of each class.  I'm thanking the Lord (literally) that my first period has a little life to them because we all know how hard it can be to stand in front of a group of 14-year-olds at 7:45 in the morning and make joke after joke getting NOTHING in return, right?  No?  This is not your life? 

And yet I already know that someone of them are deeply broken on the inside.  There are hard struggles going on behind some of those bright, innocent eyes.  And so we are already talking about our Stories and how we can start living better ones.

I'm loving this year already, even with all the loose ends.