The Gift of Time

The Gift of Time

I have looked at tons of posts from Facebook and Twitter about Hurricane Harvey. Many of them have focused on being able to be there for our students when we return to class. Many of them have given a list of suggestions about how to help our students cope with the aftermath of Harvey on their lives. I really found these articles and suggestions to be helpful, but the question still remains: how are we supposed to help the students when we haven't quite processed this horrible event in our own lives? The purpose of those articles was to give educators tools to help our students. Who is going to help us? How are we supposed to deal with all of this?  I am dealing with it all by writing this post. For me, writing is the key to helping me understand what has happened. It is cathartic.Yes, I know I survived an 800 year event and that it was catastrophic. It certainly was, but now I need time to heal and talk about what happened. Now I need to express the fears that I have. I need to express the fact that I wake up afraid. I have to remind myself that everything is okay and it is not raining outside. When we get the first real rain, I will be fearful, and it will bring back memories of being enclosed in a closet with my sister, nephew, two dogs and cats numerous times due to tornado warnings. It will bring back my fear of falling asleep to find my home inundated with water. It will bring back fear that I might have to climb on my roof and wait for help from the Coast Guard. Fear, yes, lots of fear. I know it will take time, as time heals all wounds. That is why I am writing this post to confront this fear and hopefully be able to move on.

 I want to personally take some time to thank my superintendent, Scott Muri, for recognizing that we all need time. Not only do our the students and parents, but teachers, staff, and administrators need precious time. We need time to process, understand, and begin to heal.  We need time to clean up and return as close as possible to normal. School starts back next week. I can't wait to get back to my students and get back to normal. I know with this extra time, I will continue with the healing process. Again, thank you Dr. Muri for giving us this time to recuperate and heal so that we can be the best for each other and for our students.