4/3

As the countdown gets closer to liftoff, the days continue to run together and, rather than be present in the moment, my mind is stuck in the future... not that I can blame myself. In these next few weeks, my wife and I will be making life-altering decisions that will influence our lives for many years to come. But, the future gets hard to think about in the midst of constant screaming and yelling, kids chasing and punching each other, and the like. By 10:30 Thursday morning, I did not think I was going to make it through the day... "Just get through this day and you will be out of here for a week, and just a few more days to go after that," I kept telling myself as I fought the urge to scrawl a resignation on a napkin, scrap of paper, sticky note, or whatever could be found...

...That was when the fire alarm went off. I didn't have a class at the time, so I contemplated staying in my room. Then, I looked out in the hall and saw smoke! Evidently, someone had started a fire in the trash can of the girls' bathroom (threw away a cigarette or something, I presume?). Recently, the old metal cans had been replaced with plastic cans, so from what I hear, the can melted! Anyway, that put us outside for about 45 minutes, then to lunch, then to the gym for over an hour. All in all, I think we were able to milk three hours out of the whole thing. I looked to one of my co-workers when we were outside and declared, "The Lord is merciful! I don't think I would have, otherwise, made it through this day." I can see the Hand of God in almost anything - especially when it gets me out of my normal work schedule. By the time we went back to class, there were like 30 minutes left in the day. I can handle that, Lord!

Thankfully, I had finished preparing my substitute materials for my week off before the alarm sounded. I dropped them off (including three classes worth of final exams) in the assistant principal's office and headed out. My week "off" (really, it's anything but a week off, with the move) has arrived, after nearly a month of waiting. I left school excitedly, ready to go see Cross Canadian Ragweed play a show in Ruston...