things i like about my life right now, 7th edition

 

all artwork in this post is by my marvelous friend caitlin connolly. isn’t it the loveliest?

1. my work schedule necessitates early mornings. while that 6am alarm is truly not fun at first, i really love my mornings after i get out of bed. i get dressed and gather my things in the stillness and silence of my house, the first light of day just barely slipping in the blinds. while i eat breakfast (lately it has been greek yogurt with almond butter and peaches), i read the book of mormon from my stool in the kitchen. i am not rushed and my spirit is hushed. it just all feels snug and fresh.

2. i have friends and siblings and parents who are watching out for me. the other day i came home to a note from my roommate on my bed, along with a stack of books she thought i might find helpful, some cold pills to help zap my cough, and a lavender bath bomb to help me relax. my sisters leave me messages when i can’t pick up the phone, and my parents shoot me loving texts. there are such wonderful, kind, generous people in my life – near and far.

 

3. the kids at alpha: blanca alvarado middle school hearten my heart and brighten my days and make me happy. when i hear them say, “good morning, miss eyre,” i just melt. a couple of days ago i got my first hugs from students. i just love them so much, even though sometimes they drive me crazy. {to answer some readers’ questions: i am a learning coach and blended learning specialist, not a classroom teacher. i help with interventions with students who are struggling, oversee the school’s technology implementation, and have lots of other random responsibilities, like serving students breakfast and monitoring the bathrooms during lunchtime.}

4. the wonders of the bay area continue to astound me. the other day i witnessed the most incredible sunset, which included three rainbows! the sky was all ethereal and cotton-candy-ish, fading to lavender and then sapphire. today i took a run on a path i’ve never been down at the baylands (an open area reserve near my home that’s right on the bay) and the sun was shining so bright and the sage and chocolate of the landscape was ruddy and lovely.

 

5. as mentioned earlier, i have a lot to look forward to. i even left a couple of things out of that last post!: an avett brothers concert in the city, a garden dinner party i’m throwing with my party-planning-soulmate brittany and my traditional autumn bike ride through the napa vineyards. i’m just really grateful for things to look forward to.

6. being a part of the new-charter-school world is fascinating and stretching and illuminating and exciting. last night i attended a meeting at the santa clara county department of education where alpha public schools petitioned for the approval of a charter of a second middle school to open next year in east san jose. the room was packed with students and parents, so eager for a better education and a better future, and the energy was buzzing and contagious and electrifying. last thursday, school api (academic performance index) scores were released and i definitely cried when i witnessed students’ roaring, triumphant reaction to the news that they had exceeded their goal of scoring 800 (an api of 800 or above classifies a school as “high achieving”). it’s just neat to be a part of all this.

  

7. when there are extra school lunches (which there usually are), staff gets to eat them (and they are actually really delicious and healthy!). no happy list of mine is complete without a mention of free food, is it??

i am feeling emotionally exhausted and so very stretched. but i am grateful to experience all this mortality. all the glorious good and all the grueling hard.

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