You slide into bed, making sure the requisite layers cover you: Comfort. Warmth. Weight. A sense of victory wells up within. You have done it. You have achieved early bedtime.
Until the moment you realize what you didn’t get done.
It had to get done.
Today.
Try as you might to get that pit in your stomach to develop into some kind of ambition, some kind of forward motion, sleep wins out.
Next morning, you spring forth, anxious to get the job done for what it’s worth, praying it will do.
You scramble in, trying to appear collected, knowing you’ve got it coming.
You don’t have to look. You can feel an “I-expected-better-from-you” teacher stare snaking its way around the reddening tips of your ears, your cheeks, your neck.
Gathering your breath, you reach into your backpack. Trembling fingers pull out the crumpled, mottled paper in offering. The reply comes.
“Comments closed.”
Something shifts within, and you are not quite sure whether you feel relief or deeper dread.
You decide on relief. It will have to do.
Tags: #sol20, elementary, elementary education, fiction, gifted, gifted education, gifted kids, learning, teaching, writing, writing workshop
March 11, 2020 at 11:13 am |
I think we have all had that realization when we crawl into bed that something was not done that should have been done. What it is hits us but our body’s need for sleep rules and we put it off until the next day hoping it will be sufficient.
March 11, 2020 at 12:56 pm |
Yes, absolutely! Sometimes sleep *does* win.
March 11, 2020 at 7:34 pm |
Achieved early bed time, relief will have to do … this is a gem-studded post throughout. “Comments closed”… it’s ok. Today, you posted twice. 🙂
March 11, 2020 at 8:06 pm |
That’s what I figure! #silverlinings