On Your Marks

I forget, every summer, just how much energy teaching consumes. Even though it's just the first official day of school, even though I had everything planned down to the minute, even though my students were scared enough to behave beautifully, I AM EXHAUSTED.

When I got home, I slumped on the couch, soaked my feet in a tub, and took on a zombie-like state that lasted for a good three hours. Then I pulled out my books and did some lesson planning. I'm immersed in reading strategies and vocabulary activities and speeches and acting exercises; then there are the plays--both the community theater play I'm acting in and the school play I'm directing; then I start my next graduate class in two weeks. I can't believe how much I've taken on. I put it down to memory loss and megalomania.

I know it's probably just the fatigue, but all I can think about is how much I'm going to miss my television.