And so reality returns

One of the biggest problems I was avoiding while on vacation was telling the aunt the news of her house. Mainly that everything in it has been removed and that there is a buyer for it. One reason this was a challenge is that in her mind, everything there is still exactly as it was before she left. She often refers to one thing or another and says "I know right where it is."

With that stressor weighing on my mind upon our return, another was added via an answering machine message from the assistant superintendent saying something to the effect "we appreciate your work at your current position, I need to talk to you about a change in your schedule." Having returned the call, I am waiting to hear back. In the meantime this has replaced the prior major stressor. Calls like this are generally never good news and while I have 30 years invested in the system,(20 at the current school) they can move me from school to school at their whim.

After dinner with my lovely cousin (and a double Don Patron tequila on the rocks) I made the call to the aunt. Turns out while I was gone, she and some galpals got the living center people to get them a bus to Christopher Banks where she made up for an entire two years of not going shopping. I told her about the house and its contents and she said "it's for the best and by the way...", proceeding then to tell me about the shopping trip.

Sometimes the world just works in your favor.

As for the other, I have spent the last five years in a significant leadership role in my current position. It has cost me more time and more stress than its been worth but I've mostly enjoyed the challenge. If, in fact, those circumstances change, it will be an opportunity to relinquish the being in charge of x, y and z as well as being a part of the team responding to "kids in crisis." (Formerly known as CPI training.) With thirty years in, I can find a way to teach music in any situation (remember that time I taught at juvieschool with kids climbing the furniture - maybe I left that part out) without carrying any drama home. So, while I'm not looking forward to what may come, fuck it. I've got this- it takes more than career upheaval to send me over the edge. At least today.