The Long Road
Long late nights.
Desk lamp lit until well past midnight
or up long before the sun
to study, to write and prepare.
Classes three or four times a week filling days
filling nights.
Missing parent/teacher conferences, bingo nights and
occasionally performances and concerts.
Sorry kiddo – I have class/an exam/work.
Working during the in-betweens
scrapping by, biding time, watching each penny and dime.
Designing lessons, building units
watching the lightbulbs come on in the students.
This year – they feel like your students
your kids making you laugh, frustrating and yet you can’t
imagine
being anywhere else.
May comes into focus, slowly page by page in your planner
marked in a myriad of colors for teaching, work, school,
your family.
Slowly marking off days – the run towards May becoming longer
than the run to May.
Counting days.
Final tests for a license, final classes for a degree, final
lessons for the school year
all waiting on the horizon – so close now
Interviews to anticipate, resumes to print, interview answer
to prepare
Giddy and excited, worried and stressed – you live a duality
day by day, hour by hour, waiting – so soon now
so soon
a contract to sign, a classroom to decorate, a class of your
own.
A teacher.
