Clouds on the Horizon

It is a quiet Easter Sunday.  We awake with coffee and the children playing quietly in the living room.  I finally pushed myself out the door on a run for a few miles, and it felt good, and reminded me that the half marathon in Normal, Illinois is getting closer and closer.  I will get up in the mornings and run at the gym and also hit my outside routes at night.  There is something about training that makes you really commit to the final run, and I need to remind myself why I am signing up for these runs.  The benefit is in the training, not the other way around.  Races are celebrations of successful training...and my lack of doing so has led me to mixed emotions about participating in a half marathon.  Fortunately, the runners high kicked in a little and I felt back at home when the sweat starts running down my face and my muscles breathe with each stride.

Tomorrow begins another work week, but it is another Monday that will be completed in the countdown until my time as assistant principal comes to an end.  I have made the decision to return to teaching for the next few years in hopes of spending more time with my family and following my true passion of working with children.  I have enjoyed my time as an administrator immensely, and I will not close the door on future administration opportunities, but now is the time I have to be a good dad and get really good at teaching and learning in the classroom.  This move back to the classroom will open doors in terms of giving more time to structure my personal life.  My priorities outside of teaching and my family will be returning to a regular exercise routine, pursuing a doctoral degree in the next couple years, and traveling a little more if possible.

It is exciting to think of these changes, and what they mean to my family and our future.  Time does not stand still, and I am reminded of this by some sad news yesterday.  We took our dog, Phoebe, to the vet yesterday, and it was revealed that she has a form of cancer and has only a few weeks to live.  This is very difficult to hear, and I am struggling with how to address this last bit of time our dog has with our family.  Phoebe has been with us since before our first child, and is nothing but the sweetest dog I have ever known.  She is also "my" first dog.  While my family has had other dogs since I was a child, Phoebe is the first dog that considers me the alpha.  We will enjoy the time we have left, and take all the memories with us as we move forward.

Part of life is loss, and part is growth...and yet another part is finding the moments where we are all just ARE and can BE.  Today is one of those days where I am trying very hard to just live in the moment and recognize that time is precious and running out.  So there are these clouds on the horizon.  There is sun behind them, and we will find calm weather, but storms of change and life will always be present and flow through our days.

-a