The Lessons Continue....

I think our bodies handle stress in different ways.  Some people have heart attacks, strokes, specific diseases etc.  Mine happens to deal with stress by attacking itself…an autoimmune disease…rheumatoid arthritis.  In 1997-98, my parents and I had some difficult challenges as far as our difference in opinion on religion.  It was very intense and difficult.  This time my body shut down.  My hands were curled, I could barely hold a pencil or a piece of chalk, and I actually got locked in the school bathroom at one point.   I couldn’t turn the door knob.  I started using the overhead projector instead of the chalkboard since I couldn’t raise my arm to write.  It would take me almost two hours in the mornings to get “warmed up” enough to move without pain.  Getting showered, dressed, do my hair etc. etc. then drive to school were all taking every ounce of my energy that I could muster.

This time my crises lasted the full school year.   Once again, I had amazing supporters and encouragers between my husband, now teenage children, and my teaching partner.  Handles were put on all the doors of the school so I could move around easier, and my principal was extremely understanding and supportive, and my students were amazing.   All blessings!! 

The school year ended, we celebrated our son’s high school graduation, and I took the summer focusing on me.  I slept, without guilt, I let others do things that before I felt I needed to do, and I spent time realizing that the only person I could control was myself and definitely not my parents.  Duh!  There were and still are challenges, but the good news is I have not had a crises since 1998. This time I learned!

Thinking back, some of these demands on any of us who are working and are also parents it’s just the way it is. When you have a new born, or a toddler, and later when they’re middle and high school the focus is on them.  There’s a small window of time to be with them, create memories, and teach life lessons.   It goes by so quickly.  I loved and enjoyed every stage of their development and would not want to change the experiences and memories we have had as a family.