Tough Day Ahead

Not a lot to write about today.  No time.  And no real motivation.

Got a voicemail earlier tonight telling me to be at school really early tomorrow morning for a mandatory faculty meeting.  I later found out from a friend via Facebook the meeting is being convened because we had a senior student die today in a single-car accident.

Tomorrow will be tough.

I did not teach this student, but that doesn’t matter.  I will have students who know her and whose minds will be anywhere but my class and what we’re learning tomorrow.  I am feeling sad for them, and for the deceased student’s family–I taught one of the student’s siblings long ago.  Tomorrow I will be part counselor, part teacher, and part comforter.  I have a feeling there will be many tears, hugs, and students who will ask “why?”  And I won’t be able to answer them.  But I will do the best I can.  This isn’t the first time this has happened in my teaching career, and sadly, I know it will not be the last.

I also have to prep for a workshop I’m teaching on Saturday morning in a neighboring school district.  I am frazzled because I have had absolutely NO. TIME. this week to get ready for it.  I have been given little guidance as to what the teachers whose students I will be teaching want me to teach them.  So they will get the best I am able to give them on relatively short notice, little sleep and few calories.

I have to resist the urge to stress eat, because this situation definitely has the potential to drive me to stress eat, which was something I did quite frequently pre-op.  I think after I get home Saturday afternoon I will go to the park near our house and take a walk around the creek.  Hell, I might even run.  The stress relief will be welcome, and the peace I feel when I run will be necessary after the week I’ve had.

I did pretty well food-wise today:  95 grams of protein and 34 grams of fat.  It was a higher carb day, at 50 grams, but I’m okay with it.

Today’s food choices, from upper right: Boar’s Head Virginia ham and Sargento reduced fat cheese stick; leftover grilled tilapia, green beans in tomato sauce with a baked potato wedge; multivitamin and calcium supplements x2, iron and B12 supplements; sweet and spicy beef jerky; mini cheesy barbecue turkey meatloaf, mashed potatoes and roasted corn; Trader Joe’s chocolate nibs; Trader Joe’s turkey meatballs.