Back to Work, Sorta

It's been bizarre this week. I went back to punching a clock again, but not to teach students...only to transport them. Getting up to an alarm clock felt foreign - vaguely familiar, but not routine. But for the first time in 36 years, I did not have a bundle of nerves on the first day of school.

I have had no trouble juxtaposing how I feel this year with how I felt last year. I vividly remember climbing aboard my bus in the afternoons, totally exhausted and with nerves on edge. This week, I've greeted each new trip with energy and positivity.

And I can report that it was a wonderful week. To be able to let off the riders at the school where I taught and not follow them into the building was a joy akin to winning the lottery, I suppose. I almost found myself guilty for enjoying the feeling so much - like I didn't deserve to be so happy, forgetting that I had stacked 36 years in the classroom into a career.

I've also been able to spend a few hours at home with Carole and Maddie, the grand-daughter we keep during the school year. Those are rich, bountiful moments that weren't there before.

So I guess I'm tiptoeing through the tulips.