A DAY IN THE LIFE- SLICE 1/31

I am participating in the eighth annual
March Slice of Life Challenge 

at Two Writing Teachers.

I think our ordinary activities pretty much reveal who we are,
so here's my first slice, 

A Day in the Life.

4:00 The alarm goes off. I am squashed on the left side of the bed; my black lab, Star sleeps on the right, where one dog or another has slept for most of my adult life. It's Saturday, but I'm teaching a class for the ELA (English Language Acquisition) department this morning. A never-married, fifty something, dog lover.

4:30 Out of the shower. Coffee made. Dogs fed. I head to the basement. This year for the first time since I adopted my sons in 2003, I joined a Bible study. I've loved getting back into the Word on a more consistent basis.  A Christ lover. Adoptive mother. 

5:00 I review my presentation, fiddle with a few slides. I've been doing professional development for almost thirty years. Some of the teachers that will be in this session were not even born when I started teaching. A veteran (that's a polite way of saying old) urban educator.

7:00 Head out the door, computer bag over my shoulder. It's a beautiful Colorado winter morning. The  sky (at least for the moment) is blue, blue, blue and the air sparkles silver and white. I make myself stop and breathe. Slow down and be amazed, I say to my soul. Remember this moment. It will never come again. A wanna be wonderer. 

7:07  I get a few blocks away from my house and remember that I have forgotten my debit card and driver's license. I had planned to buy bagels for my class, then get some cash so my sons could get haircuts afterward. Return to the house, grab the debit card and head out for the second time.  A disorganizational goddess. 

7:45 Arrive at the school. Three trips later I have transported my computer, LCD projector, chart paper, handouts, the bagels and a large coffee to the last room on the second floor, almost a city block away. Love my job, but all the schlepping, not so much!

12:30 Class over, time for clean up. I put the room back together. Five of us presented this morning, but by the time I am done, everyone else is gone. I wonder why I am always the last one finished.  Disorganization, a constant theme. 

1:45 Pick up Boo, my mom's maltese, who has lived with me since my mom moved to assisted living a year ago. Take her to the groomer, who says they tried to leave a reminder call, but weren't able to leave a message on my home phone. I know why- earlier this week I dropped the phone into the dog's water bowl. I explain the situation and all three of us laugh. "I do that kind of stuff," says the sweet young woman who clips Boo.  I've made a lot of friends laughing at myself. 

2:00 Return home. My real dog, Star, a black lab mix is waiting for her daily walk, which has been far from daily in the last two weeks of subzero temperatures. A lover of labs and golden retrievers. A pretty much daily walker. Not a lover of winter weather.

3:45 Pick up the dog. Stop to pay a bill.  Tell myself I will go to the grocery store tomorrow.  Go home.  Sons "remind" me there are no groceries in the house. I head out again. A procrastinator. Mother of two college-aged sons. They were both away at school, but this semester both of them are at home. It's been a pretty bumpy couple of months at our house.

5:00  One of those times when we needed everything- Groceries, snacks, two kinds of dog food, paper towels, laundry detergent. $246 later,  I am done at the store. Son #2 comes out to help me, then both boys unload the groceries. They don't unpack/ put away groceries the way I do, so I shut my mouth and head for the basement. A recovering perfectionist. 

5:45  More than $200 worth of groceries and I am too tired to cook. I bribe the boys to go to Chipotle (we end up settling on Qdoba). An hour later they return. I wonder/worry where they have been. Worrier. Trying to be a tough-lover. 

7:30 My mom calls. She wonders if I will be going to visit on Sunday. I have been making the 130 mile round trip pretty much every Sunday since last February, but my mom always calls to ask. I skipped last week because we were in the middle of a blizzard. We are supposed to get three inches of new snow tomorrow. I hope it will be late afternoon. A sandwich generation daughter trying to get used to a mom whose health has deteriorated significantly in the last year. 

8:00  Flip the television. I refuse to watch a special about Lawrence Welk or a rehash of the Academy awards and find a real life crime show, my go-to background noise. Attempt to draft my first slice, which I know I will have to revise tomorrow.  I am a morning writer. The March challenge is hard because I don't always have time to write in the morning and sometimes I have to do it at night.

9:45  I wake up. Computer in my lap. I put the dogs out for one last time, then we head for bed. Tomorrow is another day.