Pages

Sunday, November 15, 2015

November Thoughts

This school year is no harder than any other school year. Really. My class is delightful--on Friday we had a writing session together that just blew me away. So many little pencils furiously scratching the page. I was inspired and humbled by their writing pursuits. And their talent.

No, the climate in the classroom is not the reason for the tremendous fatigue I feel. Nor is there anything I can point to easily. I think it's simply the usual.

Balance.

Or lack thereof.

I feel like a mouse on a see-saw, running up to the writing end of my life, then back to the teaching end. Back and forth. Up and down. High and low. (Except that this see-saw has more than two ends. There's home/family life in there somewhere, too.)

I recently gave a talk to interested folks about writing for children and the question invariably came up: "How do you do it all? How do you write and teach?  Where do you find the time?" I joked that I steal time, because that's what you have to do. Steal it. (Nobody is going to give it to you willingly.) Then I talked for a bit about how I manage to balance it all.

I kind of exaggerated about the balancing, because the truth of it is that I'm not doing it as well as I'd like.

*cues mouse to begin running back and forth again*

And now, somehow, I find myself on the cusp of Thanksgiving. THANKSGIVING.

How did that happen? Where did the time go?  (This is my constant whine.) Have I been so busy being the mouse running around like crazy that I missed the entire Fall ???

I don't know.  Really I don't even know.

 My gut says that I need to just embrace the mouse--that the mouse's struggle for balance is really just part of the human condition. Is my purpose really simply to balance the see-saw?  Or is it to make my peace with the ups-and-down-of-it-all?

The reflection continues.

hrh


No comments: