I’m finishing up my first week back at school.  I’m tired and sore from surgery, and I’m discombobulated from missing the beginning of the year, but it hardly matters.  I’ve been happy every day.  So I’m just going to take a moment to celebrate being back in my classroom.

I got to see my amazing colleagues again, and they’ve been so supportive and genuinely helpful, picking up the things I drop and getting me up to speed on everything I missed while I was gone.

I got to see my amazing students again too.  There’s little in life that’s more awesome than a kid happily shouting your name and then running up and tackling you with a hug.  Maybe there’s nothing in life that’s more awesome than that, actually.

I met my new students, who have been patient with me as I learn their names and figure out all the new campus protocols I missed during the first two weeks.

One of my students’ mothers brought me a cluster of vibrant flowers in a Mason jar.  One of my former students (now a big fancy high schooler) had also heard about my health issues, and brought me a bouquet of bright red gerbera daisies. And one of my now 8th-graders wrote me a very sweet Get-Well card.  The love is everywhere.

Also, I put out a bunch of my new books and my book check-out clipboard, and my students seized every single new book on the shelf.  I’m so excited that they’re excited about the expansion of the classroom library!  They’ll be looking for fresh meat soon… I guess that means I need to plow through my to-read pile and bring in more books!

I’m just so grateful for all of it.  Glad as I am that it’s almost the weekend, I can’t help looking forward to Monday.