I've been smiling lately dreaming about the world as one

I wonder whether it's the time I've spent away that gives me a little more patience (in which case the longer I stay the more my newfound patience will deteriorate again) or whether it has to do with getting older (in which case my patience could foreseeably continue to stretch on forever). I'm hoping it's the latter because it's pleasant, this reserve of patience I've only recently discovered.

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The upcoming week is busy. I am going to be "sick" tomorrow because I need to attend some meetings downtown with K and his people. I don't like these meetings and always feel my presence is unnecessary, but K seems to feel being there is important and so I will be. We are, however, meeting privately prior to the other meeting, and I am going to let him know that while I'm willing to continue to write for him and work behind the scenes, he should not expect me to meet with his clients with any kind of regularity. I'm putting my teaching work first at this point.

On Tuesday I am teaching, but will be darting out on my lunch break to meet with another of K's clients, and then racing back to school. This is exactly the kind of thing I do not want to make a habit of as it technically breaks some board policies and because I want to focus on only one thing at a time if that's at all possible.

Wednesday will be a more normal day, and then on Thursday and Friday I am going to a conference (for teachers, this time) with my principal and a few other keen types who want to talk about protecting kids from bullying and creating a clearly defined code of conduct. I am attending for several different reasons. One, of course, is that I truly do believe that kids need and have the right to feel safe at school, and when the opportunity arose to be involved in something that I care about, I offered to be a part of the process. The other (selfish reason) is that I hope it will help my career, at least somewhat, to spend some time with the administrators, being part of something they care about too.

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Last night the inlaws came over for dinner and drinks. The dogs are starting to like them which is encouraging because I dream of one day being able to go on a holiday with Shawn and have them well taken care of by someone with whom they feel comfortable. Having grown up with hardy dogs that adjusted easily to whatever was thrown their way, I am sometimes astonished by the fussiness of our little neurotic trio. And yet, they fit us well. We aren't exactly a hardy and adaptable lot ourselves some of the time.

Yesterday afternoon I did garden work. One of the trees dropped orange leaves, another one turned a beautiful shade of brilliant red and then dropped a zillion more leaves. The leaves, though red on one side, were sort of pale pink on the other side, and when they were all piled up on the lawn and in the dirt under the tree, they looked like gigantic piles of confetti. After admiring them for a couple of weeks, I decided to rake them and bag them like a responsible home owner should do. Little Puppy had the good sense to stay inside where it was warm and dry, but Boy Dogs couldn't resist the appeal of mud and leaves and spent the afternoon chasing each other through the leaves and trying to eat my gardening gloves. My dear husband, during all the chaos, cleaned the kitchen. It made me laugh because it reminded me so much of my own parents; all summer on Saturday afternoons, my father did laundry and sewing while my mother mowed the lawn. I'm glad we're inside out.

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