hurdles and pole vault and parents, oh my!

It has started.

Monday was the first day of track season. That means I can give up all hope of returning to my home before 7pm on weeknights until the beginning of June. Track is great, but the hours are killer. Today we had a pretty good practice. I'm "co-coaching" lots of stuff this year: sprints, hurdles, and pole vault. Pole vault will be my main responsibility, followed by hurdles, and in between time I'll be yelling at sprinters to run faster and push themselves to make it to the top of the hill at full speed. Lots of fun kids, most of whom work hard and a few of whom actually listen well to coaches' advice (it's that quality called "being coachable" that we all love to see in others).

To add to the craziness of the week, spring parent teacher conferences are this week Tuesday and Thursday. Last night was good, but the 4 hours of talking to parents absolutely wipes me out. It's such an up and down time -- with one parent I'm talking about a kid's great work ethic and humorous personality, and the next we could be discussing how a kid's depression is really blockading any positive academic performance.

The week ends with the Texas Instruments International Conference in Chicago. 5 math teachers from my school will be heading down early Friday morning to our "calculator conference." In one respect it'll be a nice get away and a good learning experience... in another, I just want to come home Friday night and crawl in bed at 8pm and not get up until noon. Sleep hasn't appeared on my agenda for March, but maybe April there will be a few extra hours...

I shouldn't complain. I've got a sweet life with all the comforts of the average American (maybe even above average?). It's all just another lesson in humility and thankfulness.