Survivor: Meet the Teacher Night Edition

I always get a little nostalgic at this time of year.  I find myself missing Jason more so than at other times of the year.  Beginning of the year is the  time I feel the loss because of the fact that he was also in education.  He always looked forward to the beginning of the year for his own campus and that of the Jack and Caroline.  He would even get excited about my year, which helped me get excited.  Mr. Groov E. Shooz was born out of his excitement for the upcoming school year, and he wanted his teachers to get excited as well.   He usually scheduled his Meet the Teachers on a different night than the kids' nights so he could go up and meet their teachers.  He often filled in for me since the kids and I are in the same district mine often coincided with theirs.  If not, he'd meet me up at the kids' school and then take them out to dinner while I rushed back to my school for my Meet the Teacher. 

This is the third Meet the Teacher without him, and it gets easier but at the same time harder.  This year especially.  This was a big year.  Caroline is the only Huffman still at Yale, my school is under construction so time in the rooms has been limited (translate: stressfully limited), and Jack is going to Jr. High.  Of course, every one of those schools had their Meet the Teacher on the same night. 

I called this entry: "Survivor: Meet the Teacher Night" because that's what it felt like.  We had staff development at my school today to go over beginning of the year items, but there was a miscommunication with the construction crew because instead of doing the waxing on the floors in the 3-6th grade wings tomorrow night, they did it this morning.  So we couldn't get to our rooms until 11:30 (then 12:45, then back to 12:15) with staff development starting back at 1.  Thank goodness for our principal who got through the information with as little filler as possible and getting us into our rooms by 2:45.  I worked until 3:45 in my room until it was time to leave to get to Caroline's Meet the Teacher, then back to my school for my Meet the Teacher from 5:30-6:30, then to the Jr. High for Jack's "Panther Camp" from 6:00-7:30.  It all go done, but Goodness!

A big THANK YOU!!!!! to my family.  My in-laws have kept the kids this week while I was at work.  My mother-in-law took Jack up to the Jr. High to get his schedule on Wednesday (because I was in staff development), and then brought them to Caroline's school tonight for Meet the Teacher.  They then took Caroline to dinner, while I took Jack to my school to help me clean.  Then my older sister picked up Jack to get him to the Jr. High by 5:30 for the orchestra meeting, then ushered him to the gym for student orientation at 6:00.  THEN she sat through the parent meeting that was at the same time and took great notes for me.  She walked with us to help Jack get a handle on his schedule and where his rooms were.  I think he's so relieved about his classes and where they are that he's already memorized where they are, what period they are, when he'll get to his locker, and what he needs to do to not be late. My father in law even came up and sat through the parent meeting and walked with us for a little bit, so it was kind of like Jason was there.

I couldn't have done it this week without their help, and I'm VERY thankful for it.  But at the same time I'm a little sad.  This year would've been a fun one for Jason...walking Jack through the halls of the Jr. High and meeting his teachers.  I'm sure he was there, but it wasn't the same.

If it wasn't for them...I wouldn't have won this edition of Survivor.