Well, I missed a day of blogging. My dreams, dashed. My hopes, crushed. My legacy, tarnished. But I have a good excuse.
I took the students on a campout last night, my first overnight excursion on the job, and I couldn’t exactly blog ‘neath the stars. So, I cheated with this Instagram photo yesterday afternoon:
But now here I am on Day 26 with no excuse. Hitting the blog before midnight. Dreaming and hoping for a legacy that still has some juice in it.
I can’t believe I’ve been doing this all month long. Almost at the finish line. Must . . . keep . . . going . . .
The campout was great. It was my first time packing up and packing out since leaving my old job at the start of this year. Strange not to be in the classroom but in the great outdoors. Every once in a while, I get these opportunities to break from the norm, and despite my overall affinity for structure and routine, I can always appreciate a good old adventure.
This adventure was cake compared to overnight outdoor excursions with youth in the past. Drive-up camping. A tent. Indoor plumbing. Hot water. And only one night long.
Just one night. I woke up from a cold night to pee in the woods this morning, thinking to myself: how in the world did I do a job like this for seven nights straight?
I’m so grateful for that former job. Trained me in countless ways for this current one and also gave me much needed perspective. When you survive a winter storm with a name like Jonas, or any name, you feel like you can survive just about anything.
Sure, it was inconvenient to step up and fill in a shift on a holiday weekend. A shift I’m not at all used to working at this job. But when the kids call me “Weekend Tom” and say I need to hang out with them like this more often — yeah, that’s helpful. It helps remind me why I do what I do.
I’m Tutor Tom most of the time.
But Weekend Tom is there, too. And he enjoys a nice night under the stars every once in a while. Classroom gets a little stuffy.
This is Day 26 of #MakeNovemberTolerable. Keep checking back every day this month for new stories and discoveries of beauty where beauty may be hard to find.
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