This weekend, I have a unique week to review. I started the week retired, busy settling into an old house that is new to us. The busyness of that life was busy in the sense of having a lot to do but not busy in having a limited timeframe to finish the work. Following are 7 events which changed that routine this week.1....I agreed to substitute teach in a 7th grade English Language Arts class for a teacher who was expecting her second baby. I agreed to this a couple of months ago -- when it was in theory only.
2....As the beginning of the school year approached (teachers went back on July 24; students started on August 1), I didn't know whether I would be called before the students started or not, so I attended some of the pre-planning so I'd be prepared if that turned out to be way the song was played.
3....August 1 arrived; students attended the first day of school; Mrs. C. waddled to school in all her pregnant, bulky beauty and managed to teach for the entire first day. HOWEVER, she called me that night and said that her doctor wanted to induce labor and she would need me to take the class beginning the next day.
4....So Thursday and Friday it was back to the hectic teaching schedule for me. I have three 90-minute ELA blocks of students to teach and of course homeroom, breakfast and lunch duties, and meetings to attend. These past two days have been still just introductory - learning names, establishing procedures, etc.
5....My daily routine will be quite different for the next 6-12 weeks. Mrs. C. had a beautiful, healthy daughter to join her, her husband, and their 5-year-old son. The students in the three classes have been very cooperative and attentive so far, and I expect to have a good, profitable, and enjoyable time with them.
6....The other joy and item of interest in this story is that our son is the AP at the school where I am working, so I get to see him on the morning announcements every day and often throughout the day. Our grandson is in 8th grade in the same school, so I see him go by my room a couple of time a day. Our two granddaughters come to the school from the nearby elementary and high schools to wait for their dad to go home, so I have had help in my classroom after school each day.
7....My husband, man of unparalleled thoughtfulness and 
resourcefulness, surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of fresh flowers when I got home from the first day I worked. It is a beautiful arrangement of a dozen red roses along with a number of other white flowers -- all in a pretty clear vase with a red bow in front. Here are a couple of pics of the arrangement.
