Just One Of Those Days

Today I had one.  You know, one of those days.

It began at 3am with the dramatic appearance of Miss Four standing beside my bed, and continued for the next two hours with a little hand flung repeatedly into my face, or a knee jabbed into my back.  She was asleep.  I was not.  Two hours more of precious sleep and then the day began.  I got to work early.  Very early.  Today was going to be a busy day.

The day snowballed from there.  It was me.  I was run off my feet today.  Start-of-the-year-itis.

Volunteered to do the coffee run, early morning staff meeting, rush to get long term planning and timetables ready to hand to admin, talking to parents, teaching, marking papers, gluing on book labels, cutting art work, teaching the students about the Treaty of Waitangi, covering duty for a colleague with an injured ankle, cleaning water spills in the bathroom, teaching, helping other classes, checking on enviro, teaching, dealing with lunchtime issues in the playground, missing lunch, eating lunch late, teaching, manning the pool, talking to parents, dishing out art resources.  Sigh.  It was one of those days.

You know the kind - non-stop.  Not even enough time to sit down for a breather.  No breaks.

My saving grace came in the form of my colleagues and students.

A helping hand on the coffee run, collaborating over Google Docs for timetables and long term plans, an extra pair of hands to cut labels, team teaching, a thank you from a relieved colleague with an injured ankle, a child who tearfully owned up to the water spill and helped to clean it up, students who were willing to run errands around the school for me when they'd finished their work, a sandwich brought for me from a colleague who knew I'd forgotten lunch today, team-players who came and helped out with tricky playground matters, magnificent students who followed instructions and got everything done that I asked of them, light-hearted conversation while manning the pool, an extra pair of arms to carry the art gear.  It was one of those days.

I am so lucky that on one of those days, I had one of those days where even though everything seems to be crumbling around me, there are helping hands to help me scoop up the pieces.

So.  Lucky.