Happy New Year!

When the kidlet and I toured around his new school yesterday, it was so peaceful. Schools before classes begin always remind me of Christmas Eve; everything is in its place, quiet preparations are underway, everything waiting for the real fun to begin. As we were wandering the deserted halls with the lights turned off, a teacher burst through the doors singing "Happy New Year." While it wasn't quite the same as my all time favourite commercial for Staples with the father "skating" through the aisles with the shopping cart to the tune of the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, it made me smile.

The start of the school year is our new year, new beginning... as I imagine it is for many households. January 1 is just an extension of the Christmas season in our house. This is our time of change. As a teacher, each new school year is like starting a new job with a whole new batch of co workers; I bring my knowledge and skills from my previous job and blend it with all that is new. Just like starting a new job, there is always the excited nervous anticipation. And, of course, the constant changing of classrooms and course loads also helps in making it feel like a new job every year. After what was a tumultuous year in public education in BC, I look forward to a fresh start as we wait out the demise of our current government and a less oppressive future. For the kidlet, new grade, new teacher, new classmates - it is sort of the same. But for both of us, back to a regular schedule after two months of little routine and, frankly, where we lose track of the day of the week and forego pretty much all the household rules.

I'm sure I have said this before but I love change; think about how bored we would be without it. It is probably what I love most about teaching; every year is different. In the past, change in our personal lives usually went hand and hand with drama, craziness and chaos; to experience change as part of the natural evolution of life has been such a blessing. This past year our household has seen many changes some of which have been challenging, some a little bit sad but with a whole lot of wonderful.

As I visited today with a truly incredible lady who I have not seen in 11 months, we shared the many changes in our lives over the past year. As she recently celebrated fourteen years of marriage, she remarked that it is so wonderful and such a special gift to find a life partner. And how much more fun the changes in our lives are when we have someone to share them with! I could not agree more; I give thanks for this each and every day. In a lot of ways it is a strange feeling knowing that you will never have to experience anything alone ever again; strange in a "pinch me", "is this a dream?" sort of way. It is like winning the lottery of life! It makes the rough stuff challenging rather than devestating and the good stuff more spectacular.

With many changes behind us and many more to come, I am excited for our new year and how we will evolve as a couple and a family. I look forward to watching the paramedic take over the household on his weekdays off, to sharing our home with a teenage hockey player, to watching the kidlet develop neighbourhood friendships and to finally accomplish his goal of being taller than me. How different all of our resolutions will look this year!

Happy New Year everyone!

Oh the Inevitable... Quelle Surprise!

Why is it that, even though we know something is inevitable, we are always surprised when it happens?

You know, like the kids who ride their longboards down gravel ridden roads and are shocked when they end up with road rash. Or the ones who never complete any school work, rarely attend class and then can't figure out why they didn't pass the class.

After watching Jon be browbeaten by Kate on televeision was anyone really surprised that he left? Seriously. Or that Lindsay Lohan ended up in jail? Or that Kim Kardashian's second marriage only lasted 72 days? Any, yet, headlines are filled with words like shocker, unbelievable, breaking news. The only thing breaking about these stories is that anyone waited until after it happened to write about it.

Take the teacher's strike, for instance. Were any of us - teachers, parents, students, general public and even teacher haters - surprised that teachers took a settlement? Of course not! No matter what we say to kids, the fact of the matter is that all of us can only take being beaten down for so long. So, despite our best efforts, it was totally inevitable that the teacher strike ended at the end of the school year. So why am I surprised? Is it because part of me wishes that not everything politically related be a foregone conclusion? Probably.

Politicians and teachers are a funny mix. It is like the lopsided friendship where one is a giver and the other a taker... and yet, at the end of the day, the taker is the one pointing her finger screaming "YOU are a bad friend" and the giver is left thinking, "Wow... did not see that coming" when, let's face it, it was inevitable.

Politicians have placed more and more demands on teachers while removing financial resources and support to help them get the job done. Not surprisingly, after a while of trying to just go with the flow and avoid any sort of altercation, teachers are going to say "Hey, wait a minute. This is inequitable and unreasonable. And sort of a little insane." And what happens in the end? The inevitable. The taking politicians point their fingers yelling "Greedy! Greedy! Greedy!" all the while bypassing their own huge raises and padded expense accounts.

So, when news agencies begin to report that teachers are leaving the profession before retirement, moving to other provinces or that teacher education programs see less graduates applying for positions within BC, why feign surprise? It is a foregone conclusion. Doesn't it come down to what we all learned in elementary school? Relationships are give AND take not take, take, take and then be pissed off when the other party asks for a little something in return or just walks away?

On a personal note about the inevitability of things, can I really say that I am surprised that after months of publicly giving thanks for the paramedic that, once there has been a lapse, he reminds me of how many days it has been? To which I would reply: on that specific day, I was very thankful that my new husband did not trip over the full garbage sitting in the kitchen waiting to be taken out as he continuously walked around it. And, I would imagine, for him that response was inevitable. ;)