Next week begins the new school year 2022-2023. It also begins a new chapter for the school I work at. We have a brand spanking new building to house our students. It’s exciting and nerve wracking all at the same time. My computer at our old site was older than dirt, a desktop with a tower if you remember back far enough. I found out that we are being assigned brand new computers, yayyy! Rumor has it we also have a color printer and an ice maker. The ice maker is so cool because at our old site we used disposable cold packs for anyone who needed cold/ice applied to an injury. Now we can make up actual ice packs and keep them in the freezer. Sounds so silly to be happy about things a lot of people take for granted in their workplace. But that’s the way it is or was for us.
I miss my students. Don’t get me wrong I’m so thankful for my time off and I’m not looking to shorten the vacation I’m on, but I do miss “my” kids. I actually had a dream about one of my favorites, that this student had something wrong with them and I woke up a bit freaked out and had to realize it was only a dream. When I’m off for a decent amount of time I find I have dreams about my students. But the dreams are usually about me forgetting to feed someone or forgetting what new class they’re in. The last dream I had about this new school building had me running all over the place as if I were in a maze to find students who needed care in a timely manner. Weird.
I miss my co workers as well. When you see people everyday you form relationships and learn about their lives. Recently I’ve been talking with a social worker that has been hired to provide counseling to our students. I really like her and I find we have a lot of the same goals for the students and the parents we serve. During the summer program I ran down to her office to tell her something minor and we ended up chatting for quite some time. It was nice. She wasn’t aware of Thomas, that he is special needs and had attended the school we work for. When I explained Thomas’ situation and former experiences it took me back in time and I felt I was reliving his last year or so before he began residential school. It was unsettling in a way and I got over it but still…you would think after all this time it wouldn’t get to me. But it does. Not that I don’t want to talk about Thomas, I’ll gladly tell my story if it would help someone else. I guess I was caught off guard that day.
So here’s to a new school year! I hope we are all successful in meeting the challenges we face in performing the tasks for the different jobs we all have!
Menay O; mom to 4, Christian and thrift shopper on the side... 