This summer was a nice break from the day-to-day stresses of teaching. I finished some projects, worked on ideas for next year, and took a much needed trip to Mexico with my husband and friends. However, all of that down time also meant I was able to think a lot about...well, everything. I think one of the biggest reasons that I still sometimes struggle with everything that happened is because I don't handle things that are out of my control very well. I can study for a test and ace it. I can research new reading notebook ideas and implement them. But, no matter what I did, I couldn't change the outcome of what was going to happen.
I of course know that nothing was my fault, and that everything happens for a reason. I know that my time will come. I need to accept that it's okay to not be perfect. If I want my students to believe that, I must believe it for myself.
So, this year, instead of buying glow sticks for my Meet the Teacher night present, I bought dinosaur erasers (since a T-Rex is our mascot). I know it's nothing much, and that my fifth graders probably won't think it's the most amazing gift in all of history, but it is symbolic to me this year. It's okay to make mistakes. It's okay if you aren't perfect or if your story is told differently than your friends or family. And, even though we can't erase the past, we can move on to brighter things in the future.