The spring is kind of exhausting. Am I allowed to admit that? Well even if I'm not, I've done it. Also good to note: I've fallen asleep every time I've sat down in the last three days. In the car? Out. On the couch waiting for the oven to beep? Done-zo. Attempting to watch a show with Liv and Jan last night? I think someone on the t.v. died, but I am definitely not certain.
Don't get me wrong, I want to see Olivia sing in her last elementary school choir concert, and I definitely need to see her play three nights of softball a week just to... you know, be supportive, but add in the final exams, the piano syllabus, the emails from students who think now is as good a time as any to check in about missing work (it's not, just FYI for those future students) and attempt that A their parents are so keen on, and holy bleeding Jesus, I'm about to tell June to take a break. Seriously, have a rest, save something for the rest of the summer.
I know, those of you with multiple children and two high powered jobs that are actually in session in July and August are like, Krissy, every season is exhausting. You make a fair point. (And I bow to your genius and ability to focus on more than one set of needs because let me tell you, when Liv fell asleep on the car ride home, I almost cried in joy at the stop it put to the deluge of questions and statements that began with "did you know...?" I can, with certainty, save you the time, Olivia, and make a blanket statements that I most assuredly do not know whatever factoid you're about to spit out.)
But this week, really, the past month, has reminded me that everything culminates in the spring in an educational setting. While most people are looking at the first of the year as this wow moment, or April 15th (yikes), we are looking at June like, holy crap, can there really be this many things that need to have their moment this month? The short answer is yes, yes there can. And I said yes to them all, if that matters...and we both know it does;)
This second week of June found us participating in softball games, graduation, final exams, more softball, and, then, our first ever Feis--an Irish Dance competition for those of you not fluent in Irish Gaelic or the world of Irish dance...and why would you be?
Let me tell you--I've been to some dance recitals. Liv has done everything from ballet to jazz, with one season of contemporary thrown in there, but there was nothing like the Irish dance competition. You're on stage with people you don't know, a judge directly in front of you. The fiddle player, who was a boss and played the entire 8 hours, sets the tone for each dance, and you do 32 bars (no idea what that means) of each step, bow to the judge and walk off while others are starting. It is a never-ending rotation of people on stage, and depending on your dances, you could do them all one right after the other, as Liv did. It was insane, and amazing, and pretty damn enlightening. I mean, Old Man River and I might have said yes, I might have wielded a curling iron twice this weekend with only a minor burn that was easily covered on her hairline, but we are still us--we still sat mostly alone, on the peripheral, and did our best not to gawk at all of the personalities around us. We mostly succeeded.
As icing on the cake, there is a dance--the trophy dance or reel dance, it was called both--that was a last minute addition. Liv asked if she could do it, and while I wanted to say no, both days, because we were already doing four dances, I could see that saying no was about me and not her. So we said yes, and today, not only did she place second and fourth, after a second and fourth yesterday, she was announced the second place winner in the reel dance for her age. This means nothing in terms of what level she's at; apparently, it's a fun one, the only dance she's one stage alone to do. But watching her surprise, her smile, and her joy, I was reminded that often, saying no is important, but saying yes when it's for these moments...that's a big one.
Now, I have finished and submitted my very first review, and next week is my last week of work. I will officially be in what I like to call deep summer on Friday afternoon, unaware of what my career is until late August when I must pull myself together again.
Good times.
Until then. xoxo
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