Reset and Go

It's 2012 now, and I'm back to the job again. 

After a night of reckless dreaming....(fighting a turkey, and winning??...being held hostage by two French people?...suddenly getting on a plane to go to Washington, D.C.?...running a relay race?...someone coming up to me and cutting off all of my bangs?)

..I woke up. 



Let's be honest.....I don't REALLY know what I'm teaching today but I'll be glad to see the kids again.  It's been nice to have a break and set the reset button again.  When you're away you think about why you REALLY do something.  I had conversations with myself about my work again, and am (mostly) ready to teach in this long stretch of the year when the outdoors are reminiscent of a tundra.  I hear Thoreau's words..."Simplify, simplify" and Emerson saying, "Do what you love". 

Then, quotes by Dickens...

"A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other."

 and Van Gogh...

"I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people."

 and Leonard Cohen....

"Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in."

 which are all very good for piecing together life with students who have loads of potential but are still very much in the middle of discovering it about themselves.



And now I feel ready again to seek and grow and try. 


Cheers to coffee and solitude, knowing that in waking hours I do still have bangs and don't fight turkeys, and the new year.  And Happy New Year to all of you.