The End of Holidays

Christmas is officially over, and with it the holiday season, which means I have to go back to work on Monday.  This is unfortunate for a few reasons.

First of all, no one wants to go to work.  If someone said to you, "Hey, you can go to work today, or stay home.  Whatever you want, no big deal," there is no one on earth (with the possible exception of my dad) who would go to work.  I like my job more than most people, but I would stay home given the chance.

But more importantly, I don't want to go to work because I am not sure that I can physically do it.  At 27 weeks now, I am measuring the size of a normal 40 weeks pregnant person - the point at which people typically give birth.  Here's me on Christmas day:

I like this picture because if you use your thumb to cover the belly, I look like a normal sized person.

Anyway, I know all of you non-teachers are thinking to yourselves, "What's so physically demanding about teaching?  All you do is stand at the front of the room and talk.  You could even sit down and do that."  Let's assume this is true - I'm only working half days, and I only have 4 weeks to go, so for 20-ish work days I have to sit and talk for a few hours each day.

But there's a lot more to this equation.  First of all, I have to get up at 6:30 in the morning to get ready.  Not a big deal for a non-pregnant person, but I wake up 4-8 times a night to pee or because I'm sore or uncomfortable, so that makes 6:30 pretty early.  Then I have to drive 45 minutes on the highway to get to work.  Not tiring in itself, but driving tired can be a hazard.

Then I get to work, and park my car.  Now I have to walk about 100 feet from my car to the office to put away my things.  At this point, I will be exhausted.  I'll have to sit down for a few minutes to catch my breath.  When I'm ready, I will walk about 50 feet from the office to my classroom, finally ready to start the day.  By this time, I will be ready for a nap.

I did have an idea about how to get rid of some of the walking to make my life a little easier.  When maintenance workers come into the school, they pull their vehicle right up onto the grass and park directly beside the front door.  Sometimes we do that too, if we are loading or unloading from our vehicles.  I was thinking maybe I would just park there for the rest of the semester.  I think it would be really entertaining to see how long it would take before my principal said something to me about it.  Actually, on the off-chance that she reads my blog, I may have just ruined the joke.   I know it would be a lot easier to just ask permission to park at the front - easier, but not at all funny.

Anyways, it's back to work on Monday - that is until some medical professional tells me I'm not physically able, or I pass out from exhaustion, whichever comes first.