DAY 23 – Saturday

Mixed a little bit of relaxation with homework. After orientation, I had to turn my brain off. Friday night I was able to JUST relax. Saturday, I had to remember that I’m not here on vacation, but this is school. Not just school, a master’s program, that requires me to maintain a 3.0 GPA average in order to stay in said program. So needless to say, back to homework I went.

DAY 24 – Sunday

Happy Birthday to me. What started out as a decent day – church, lunch, back to homework (all like I planned), ended tragically. My little cousin, only 17 years old, took his own life. Stunned. Hurt. Upset. Angry. Sad. No longer able to return birthday greetings. Not able to respond to birthday posts on social media, unwilling to look at happy birthday and RIP as I scroll down my timeline. Not able to get my head back in the game to finalize the first draft of my very first paper for my very first graduate course that was starting Monday morning; the draft that I worked on until 3 a.m. that morning. Tired. Stunned. Hurt. Upset. Angry. Sad. Afraid. How in the world am I going to teach high school students anything about anything? How am I going to be able to reach young minds that might be filled with the kinds of thoughts my cousin had? What in the world am I going to do? What in the world did my cousin just do? And why?

DAY 25 – Monday

Grateful for grace. Grateful that my instructor gave me an extension on my first paper that was due at 8 a.m. Grateful that I had enough memory about the readings to get an A on the reading quiz. Grateful for my roommate and classmate/friend who sat up with me last night although they, themselves, had to prepare for their first class. Grateful for a great class. Learning Theories. I wasn’t sure what to expect. But the class was great. The instructor was great. My interest in learning theories was definitely peaked and I look forward to next week’s class. Although was able to step away from things for a few. Sat in on a spoken word and music beats battle downstairs. Finished my paper and turned it in.

DAY 26 – Tuesday/Yesterday

Visited Graceland and the Stax Museum with the entire class. Would like to learn more about Stax and the history of the music and people that were there. My school is Soulsville Charter School, connected to Stax. Would like to learn more about it as well, before I step into the classroom in August. Also took a class at the gym here that I absolutely loved. Another thing to look forward to.

DAY 27 – Wednesday/Today

Class number 2. Planning and Assessments… we shall see what today brings but I am looking forward to class. I feel much better than I have the past few days. The goal is to just keep my eyes forward and keep moving, no matter what.