Samhain Publishing Ltd Weblog

I Need Florida

A few weeks ago, when I was standing in the guidance counselor’s office, in the middle of my panicked rant about how my juniors were not going to be ready for their upcoming high-stakes graduation testing because we were almost to spring break and I wasn’t at the same point as last year in the curriculum and they weren’t taking anything seriously and… (you get the picture), our graduation coach glanced over at the guidance counselor and said, “Linda needs spring break.”

And he was right. After a week off, spent writing and cleaning and generally doing nothing school-related, I had my focus and sense of equilibrium back. Sure enough, my juniors did fine – they posted a 94% pass rate on the grad test in English.

But oh, now I need Florida.

See, in my near future is a week spent at a 1940’s beach cottage. A nice, blissful week, drinking my coffee on the deck with the Atlantic stretching before me every morning, spending days with the Monsters on the beach, walking in the historic area of town every evening. A week of doing not much (I would say nothing, except I’ll still be taking grad courses online, teaching an online course and editing my September release, but at least I’ll be doing those things by the ocean!).

I cannot wait. I’m telling you I need Florida.

However, right now, I’m facing down seven teaching days until graduation. That means seven more days of keeping one hundred spring-fever-infected teenagers in hand (think about roping rattlesnakes and you’ll get the idea) and hearing:

“I’m sick of school!” Yeah? So are your teachers.

“Why do we have to do this? None of the other classes are working!” Because a) school’s not over b) I said you had to do it and c) contrary to popular belief, yes, the other classes are still working.

“You’re going to grade this easy, right? Because it’s the end of the year.” Sure. Yeah. You go right on thinking that.

“Seven more days until we graduate and won’t have to work anymore!” Um, aren’t you going to college in the fall? I think you’re going to have to work there.

I can deal with seven more days, though. Because, you know, there’s Florida.

And boy, do I need it.

What do you need right now?