Musings of a Catholic metal head: The hope of normal

I was in an amazing mood all of Monday. I woke up happy, talked to my parents, looked great, brought in cookies to work, had fun with my kids, had a nice walk home - it was a great day. It's funny because having such a great day made me have to analyze it to see WHY THE HECK WAS I SO HAPPY ON A FRIGGIN' MONDAY?! I mean, I had a good weekend of being a semi-hermit, so that could have something to do with it. Then it hit me... we are expecting to have normal classes and work schedule as of next Monday. That simple word - "normal" - makes a HUGE difference. There is an end in sight, finally.

I don't want to do a country vs country comparison because quite frankly that's going to be a job for governments and historians. All I can say is that having an end of this madness in sight leads to a lightening of the mental load. Yes, I will joke about missing being able to use the 'mute' button during class, but I'm so excited to get to finally meet some of my favorite students in PERSON! Also I can be quite a goofball in class and having the kids there will make that SO much easier. I don't know what percentage of teaching is actually theater, but I suspect it's over 70%. No more having to worry about checking the chat, or students pretending that they don't know that they muted themselves, or parents creeping around checking in on us (don't lie, I know some of you would (are) do(ing) that, too!). Now just back to the good ol' CCTV in the classroom (LOL - who would ever think that we'd want to get back to just ONE camera to worry about). Eventually we'll feel comfortable enough to go out for a night in Seoul (or somewhere to dance... I miss dancing around the kitchen with J&D), and the base will eventually allow visitors again, too. I know that there is a risk that there will be a 2nd wave, just like with the Spanish flu, but I gotta tell you - just knowing that some semblance of normality may be around the corner is enough to put me in a good mood for an ENTIRE Monday.

Now, I could get all philosophical about what 'normal' means to different people, and how it can be different than 'routine,' and my personal problems with both of those concepts... but I won't. Really I want this post to be more about gratitude. I'm so grateful that I had some time to deal with my mental demons before another semester started. I'm grateful that we eased back in to teaching after I'd dealt with all that. I'm grateful that our job made sure that we were able to carry on in any capacity and try to keep what students we could. I'm grateful that we have the technology to make distance learning a thing. I'm grateful that we had this time to learn how to teach differently than we had been. I'm grateful for the new challenges that arose and were handled (not always with grace, but they were handled). I'm especially grateful for the people who made the crazy working conditions bearable, who were courageous in the face of all the uncertainty, and who held on to the hope of things going back to 'normal' eventually. I feel like someone should have been taking notes because the next time something like this happens, they will be prepared. (I just had a flashback to all those policies and procedures I had to read at the hospital... darn it, there is a point for the 'just in case' preparations... sigh.)

Anyway, I just felt like I needed to write about this today. I know I complain about the students sometimes, but they are so darn CUTE! Easier to remember the good things when you have former students coming to give you hugs or demand that you tell them how old you are. :) No wonder teaching is addicting.

In other news, I'm still coming home next March. Also Mo sent me so some pix of her and MG, so YAY I have more pix of family to put up!! Also she says my haircut makes me look like Dave Nelson from NewsRadio, but my stepdad tells me that I look like Scarlett Johansson - I'll take that one!