Getting There

As of today, four weeks left. For real. That means four more Monday mornings (although, next Monday morning is Memorial Day- this librarian gets to stay in bed!), four more classes with the illustrious 8th graders who will be moving on to high school, four more team meetings, four more outside lunches.

I finally caught up with all my outstanding orders and placed orders for next year. I finally (albeit grudgingly) wrote out a check for the $55 to attend the end-of-year retirement party- that better be some damn good chicken, is all I'm sayin'. I finally finished prowling through classrooms in search of missing overheads and slide projectors, finally hung all the posters for the book fair, finally recycled all the crap that's come out of my mailbox over the last three months.

And I feel like I'm getting there. Mentally, I've pretty much already checked out of this place. Realistically, there's still a lot to get done before I call it good enough and pack up for the summer. I've been feeling a little overwhelmed with all the new responsibilities that will go along with my job next year, which are numerous and time-consuming. I've been trying to square away a schedule for my summer job and get information on the classes I'm supposed to be taking over the break. I've been thinking about the fact that the school committee just offered us a 0% raise for next year, and what I'll do if we're forced to strike. I've been penciling in birthdays and party invites and Frisbee and school activities like people can't get enough of the NPW.

As you can see, I'm all in a state. In fact, I've been so flustered lately that in my state of unawareness last night I started to bring laundry down to the basement after dark. Alone. Only after I peered down into the cavernous black hole at the bottom of the stairs did my zombie fears return in full force and I flew back up the stairs and slammed the door shut behind me in a very dramatic fashion. Because seriously: that scene in 28 Weeks Later when the kids return to their old house and find their mother hiding in the attic room? That would definitely happen to me. And I so do not need the Rage virus right now.