To Sleep, Perchance To Dream

Today, someone told me that summer is over.

They said school is starting. Tomorrow.

But "they" are wrong. They must be. I mean, school can't be starting tomorrow.

Sure, my bulletin board may be up, first-day lesson objectives might be posted, and yes, the costume tree has blossomed into a beautiful array of hats and wigs, but that doesn't mean that the new school year has permission to start.

Permission for the school year to start has not and will not be granted because I have not yet dreamed my traditional back to school dream.

I have never participated in a school year without dreaming that wonderful, yet terrifying every-thing-goes-horribly-wrong-on-the-first-day-of-school dream. When I was in junior high, the dreams usually involved jammed lockers, mixed-up schedules, defective PE showers, and/or embarrassing pajama fashion moments.

When I became a junior high teacher, the dream shifted to include incomplete lesson plans, a total lack of copies, unpronounceable names on every class list, and/or embarrassing pajama fashion moments.

I usually wake up in a cold sweat, hands shaking, the smell of chalk mysteriously lingering in my bedroom towards the end of July. But not this year. July came and went, as did the start of August, fair week, and five days of back to school inservices, all strikingly back-to-school-dreamless. And now people are telling me that I have less than ten hours until I will be back in my classroom educating the sweet, hilarious, unwashed masses? Impossible. Not without my dream. What happened to my dream?!?!
My blasted subconscious must have been busy worrying about the fair booth. Or something.
Happy New School Year!!!!!