Missing

I have been missing lately. My blog has been greatly neglected and I apologize for it. This have been going on at work that have totally consumed me lately and when things go wrong I end up turning into myself. So putting myself out in a blog was not high on my priorities.

The school year ended yesterday, normally it would have been a time for celebration. This year, I'm moving to a new job. I work a week with my colleagues. We'd laugh, work, and plan for the next year. Last year, we actually bet on if one of our very small coworkers could fit in a sterlite storage box and she did. I was looking forward to going to AAD in New Orleans with my husband.This year is different though.

The new ELL supervisor, who was a former coach turned principal, turned ELL supervisor decided to try and take away my summer week and reallocate that money to a new coach recently hired. She decided that contracts could be broken and she was going to play with my money. Her biggest mistake was taking my quietness and shyness as weakness. What she didn't realize is that I have fought for everything I've gotten in life. I'm a fighter. I learned from the best. My father passed away when I was nine leaving my mother with four children between the ages of 9 through 4. We lived on Social Security and only on SS until my brother went to high school. We didn't have a lot growing up but I never remember doing without. The only way we were able to do this is because my mother is a strong person. She made those small checks stretch. She was able to send both my sister and I to an all girl Catholic high school. It was important to her that we became strong woman. I look at the tuition for this school now and I get nauseous. It's close to twelve thousand a year now, so I'm sure back in the day it was comparable. We got scholarships but it didn't cover everything. Don't know how she did it. All four of us were sent to college and were required to live at least one year on our own. We needed to know what it was like to be alone in life. I remember my sister cried and begged to come home every day that first year. My mother didn't allow it. Did it make her a stronger person? I think so.

I didn't accept what this new supervisor was trying to do. My husband is disabled and doesn't work. You are not going to try to take a week of pay away from me without me doing nothing about it. For the first time in fourteen years of working for my district. I called the union. Without being able to rely on that money, in case it didn't work in my favor, I had to cancel AAD. It broke my heart. My husband was looking forward to this trip very much. It just made my resolve with the district stronger. Needless to say, she couldn't take these days away from me. Although she is not allowing me to work with the other coacher because I'm only a "teacher" now. So she has more worthwhile work for me to do. We'll see what it is! As long as I'm not moving stock boxes I'm good. She doesn't realize I can shovel shit with a smile on my face as long as you're paying me my daily rate.

The summer job with Brown University also didn't happen this year. In this economy, not a lot of people have $75,000 to spend on getting a masters degree in education. This, I totally understood!

Despite it all, I have a new goal. Starting next Friday when I am totally done with work for the summer, I am going to try and write 5 thousand words a day. I have a deadline for the beginning of August for my current book and I need to make it. I refuse not to!

Sorry about my long rant but I feel you needed an explanation of my absence. But I'm back and fighting to go!!!

Peace out,
MRD