LIFE MOVES FAST

You guys. I am using my New York Minute of free time to write this post. Perhaps I should be using this small window of time to do yoga or go on a run, but I don't have time to shower and clean up before I'm off again to save the world. And by save the world I mean eat dinner with some extended family. There are no breaks for Natalie!

I started out today behind schedule and I have been playing catch up ever since. It has been one thing after another, I tell you what. Shoot.

This last weekend I was in the greater Seattle area to visit that brother of mine and his extra lovely fiancé. They are the bee's knees. I got to have my whole family around for Saturday - I'm talking the whole fam damily, you guys. The Boyfriend, the LoveBirds, the Sibs, the Rents and Rylie's mom and sister to boot. For a girl who loves family get togethers, I was basically in heaven.

There was plenty of wedding talk and excited hugs. And also elephant ears, barbecue, and more teasing than may have been necessary. The only downside was that I have been so incredibly exhausted that I haven't really had a chance to forget the world and sleep everything off.

School is keeping me more busy than I'd like to admit. I have grading that I'm a little behind on, but not bad. And prep work for upcoming lessons. I mean, this teaching thing is no walk in the park. Sure I can stand in front of a group of students and explain in thorough detail five different ways of creating value, but that my friends is the easy part. What people outside of the profession don't necessarily realize is all the behind the scenes work that goes into teaching.

There is grading, for one. So much grading. Like drowning in grading. And then prepping for classes. Creating rubrics. Making power-points. How many handouts do you need to copy, when do you need them by, etc. What materials do you need and how much of them do you need and when do you need to have them? And the paperwork. Charting data. Making sure your students are meeting their standards sufficiently - and not only the department power standards, but also the common core ones too. Oh, right, and are you following all the 504s and IEPs too? Are you compensating for your special needs students? Are you tailoring the lessons so you can most effectively reach every student?

Let me just stop and say that I love my job. I love my students. I love teaching art. I love creating art. I love my school and the staff members that I work with. There are WAY more upsides than downsides, and that is what keeps me plugging away. That is what makes the endless project grading and prepping worth it.

Because who else gets a chance to influence 100 kids a day? Who can instill creative thinking and critical problem solving skills in a somewhat upbeat fun happy way? Who lets them play with colored pencils and sharpies for an hour a day? Oh right. That would be me. I am so lucky.

This life is so crazy, so full of one adventure after the next. It's insane how fast life moves. One minute you're a student with a three hour painting studio and your biggest worry is having your frames finished for your upcoming critique. And then all of a sudden you're a high school art teacher with over 100 students to look after each day. Everything happens in the blink of an eye, really. So don't take where you are for granted because tomorrow you might miss it.