I am 72 Years Old. Ask My Mom.

October 26, 2010

I realize it’s been a long time since I’ve updated this. And while it’s been a while, it feels as though I just wrote about training, about my sumer school students, about my summer. What made me realize the amount of time was much longer than that was the action of having to turn on my heat. That’s it. Every year around the time I have to bust out the jackets, socks and boots, I have a mini panic attack of “What have I been doing with my life?!”. However, this time, I’ve been doing a lot. School started a little over 2 months ago. I think I’m working around 80 hours a week which is making me feel like an 80 year old… but I love it. There are days when I don’t know how I’m going to find the energy to tell 28 students how to title a paper the next day, but it always develops, somehow. It sound so cliche, but for the first time in my life, I’m in a job that I love. Every part of it, even the grading. These kids are incredible and the way they think and push each other because they want to be better is more than I could ever have asked for. I still have those moments when I think, how am I supposed to teach all of this in one year, but I’m doing it, day by day. Of course there have been bumps along the way. I may have told my kids we had a ghost, I may have convinced them I am 72 and just use really good face cream, and I may have convinced them that I will throw in spelling errors as “mistakes” to see if they’re paying attention, but I think overall I’m doing an alright job.

Besides the job, Detroit is pretty great too. I’ve been able to explore the city, meet people, and begin to make it my own. I still hate the Michigan left turns, and the potholes that make me feel like I’m in a Flinstone car, but the trips to Belle Isle, Eastern Market and nights on the porch make up for it. I still miss SF, and my family. I don’t think that is ever something that will go away, but I’m at a place where I wish I could share with them what I’m experiencing here, because I’m proud to live here and I’m happy to be a part of Detroit.

More updates are on their way, I promise, but for now here a couple pics and my mini update.