I love my friends and family, but when they want to do things on Friday nights, I can't. I just can't.
Why?
Because I'm exhausted, that's why. My old body can't party like it used to, at least not without a nap.
Teaching is an interesting gig. I teach five classes a day, sometimes six, and I have at least one meeting a day on top of that. What non-teachers don't know is that this is like putting on six or seven live performances, often ad lib, a day. Every day. Day in and day out. This week throw in a faculty meeting, a Union meeting, an afternoon of parent conferences, an evening of parent conferences, and an afternoon of professional development, in additional to closing and resolving term 2 grades, covering and juggling Covid absentees, and trying to make sure all of the accommodations are implemented to every student in every class.
Don't mock me -- It's a great gig and I love it. But, it is freaking exhausting.
So, when a friend asked if I wanted to get together and play cards on Friday evening, I knew enough to decline ahead of time. Good thing. I dozed off sitting up on the couch Friday evening around 6:30 p.m. I woke up in a panic and thought, surely it must be midnight and I should just go to bed. Nope. 7:00 p.m. I forced myself to stay awake until about 10:00, a respectable bedtime, then crawled into bed and slept for about nine hours.
Right now we are in the earlier stages of a major snowstorm, so I have weather-imposed downtime to correct about a hundred essays. A day inside is not a bad punishment after an exhausting work week. Of course, I will have to clean off my car at some point, but for now I will enjoy a chance to recharge my batteries and do it all over again on Monday.
