At this time, I remain at home trying to heal. I had my MRI on Friday and will find out what is truly going on with my back Feb. 27. I am continuing with physical therapy and am now participating in water therapy which puts less stress on my back. They keep the pool at a blazing temperature of 98 degrees. Perfect for me considering I rarely swam in our pool in Pace because it never got 'warm' enough for my standards. Water therapy is quite different than land therapy. Within two hours of completion of therapy, I tend to be stiff and sore more so than land therapy. I just want to be up and running soon. I was/am supposed to run a half marathon in the Bluegrass country of Kentucky on April 1 with my niece. I might be 'walking' this half. I have researched it and perhaps I really will have to partake in the run-walk method for this race.

With all this time on my hands and limited mobility, I have been reflecting on all my previous jobs. This job has been my most challenging, by far. Looking at all aspects of this job, I have determined that part of the reason there is so much struggle for teachers working in this school is due to lack of support from one another. There are three of us that try to meet up once a month after work and hang out to vent about our daily struggles and share ideas/techniques. The problem with this situation is that we are all three 'newbies' to the school. This is the only school I have ever taught in where I have not instantly felt as though I was part of a family with a bigger purpose. In my experience, all of my other colleagues, from the other six school districts all across the country, have treated the school as their 'home away from home'. This reflects in the relationships they build with colleagues (seasoned and new) and students. They all collaborate together as a family to better the school to meet the needs of their students. When faced with challenges of new,  rigorous expectations, passion would pour out of team members with grace and compassion. Colleagues would take time to meet and share ideas with one another. Even when ideas didn't work, this was used to seek help/advice to get through to that 'one' student. I know that in these strained times of education a 'perfect' and 'ideal' school/district doesn't exist. However, if you sit back and think about what I have shared and think of teaching as creating a new family away from your traditional, home family, you will see that ideal is what one sets as their own expectations and truly can have the ideal for just that moment knowing that change is inevitable on a day-to-day basis. I don't claim to have all the answers. I fail more than I succeed. I have had the blessing of exposure to many different educational settings and that has opened my eyes in many ways and allowed me to grow and learn.