Happy Accidents

At the moment I home sick today with a self-diagnosed intense sinus infection (that started with a bad cold last weekend) and laryngitis. I should have stayed home Monday, Tuesday, and or Wednesday but my over-inflated sense of Responsibility made me go to school each day even though I felt really awful and had a horrific time talking. Today was the first day that I felt organized enough and the day at school was calm enough to actually stay home and try and get better and it is SO nice to not have to talk to anyone. In my world, my students are not the ones that a teacher can put up an assignment on the board and the kids can complete it on their own. I am pretty much in front of my class and directing them out loud (instruction and behavior) for the full 90 minutes of Language Arts classes. It's daunting on a good day but when I don't feel good it is overwhelming. I am lucky I have some very capable and helpful aides that will do what they can to help out. And in Middle School if the kids see a "crack in the wall" they will do everything in their power to push through that crack and destroy that wall- so it has been a challenging week to say the least.

Anyway, I have been told to "get some rest" via email from my sub this morning- the same lady who, after subbing for me yesterday afternoon so I could attend a staffing and then a district meeting (which I never made it to because I was double booked and ran out of time) and then stay after school for my Newspaper Club until 4- ran home and came back and dropped a care package off on my desk of homemade pumpkin bread, tea bags, and chocolate- is she FABULOUS or what; LOVE her! So I have been working on resting and doing some reading and just finished the book Happy Accidents by Jane Lynch (who currently stars as the cheerleading coach, Sue Sylvester, on the Fox hit tv show Glee) that my bibliophile friend Laura loaned me. I am usually NOT a fan of anything non-fiction and rarely read biographical books (Rob Lowe- exception), but this one I loved for a bunch of Happy Accidents that I found out about Jane's life while reading the book.

First of all, she and I are about the same age (within a year). She grew up in Dolton, IL which is 2 towns away from where I grew up- Glenwood- and she makes MANY references to localities that really took me back. She attended an area high school -Thornridge- that was a rival of my own, Homewood Flossmoor. As she chronicled her tumultuous journey through high school through theater and choir productions, it brought back many memories of my own- same time period- as I was a part of our school's prestigious Viking Choir and the cultural times of the late 70's. If that were not enough similarities, she then headed to Normal, Illinois to Illinois State at the same time I did and we lived in the same residence hall !!! There the Happy Accidents cease for me but it just nails home one of my personal beliefs- that "everyone has their own stories." Everyone has their own path to take Life and their own Way to make- sometimes intersecting others' on their own journeys, but invariably leading to the Life one is supposed to lead. I enjoyed Jane's book on so many levels- the references I could relate too, as well as the cultural time periods she mentioned and the tenaciousness with which she embraced her own life goals and life style- eventually leading her to the happiness and fame she is experiencing today. We should all be so lucky!