Warm/Winter Weather Wanderings and Wonderings

One year ago, I was in the purposeful process of packing for my momentous move to my new apartment.

One of the major selling points (or renting points, as the case may be) of the new place was its proximity to my place of employment. I can walk from my awesome new apartment's aperture to the outside opening of my classroom in mere minutes, providing I don't participate in any impromptu parent/teacher conferences along the way.

I quickly discovered that one of the perks of my personal promenade is the potential for pondering that takes place as I plod along down the path to school (My apologies for the over-abundance of repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words. I reviewed alliteration with the 7th graders this week and still have not recovered).

As the seasons changed, so has my train of thought as I traipse to and from teaching.

At the start of the year, I walked to and from school almost every day, except when after-school meetings at the library or the district office didn't leave the requisite trekking time in my scholarly schedule.

I would leave a little earlier in the mornings (in an attempt to be off the streets before they were flooded with ambulatory kidlets), and use those minutes of calm and quiet to arrange my thoughts for the day.
Thoughts that needed arranging included:

Wow. It is a beautiful morning!

The wind must have shifted to the east because the cow aroma is coming through much clearer today with only subtle hints of horse manure.

I need to make copies of that alliteration assignment before first hour.

I wonder if spending a whole class period on alliteration will have any negative and/or annoying effects later on?

Don't forget to tell Student X how much fun it was to read his poetry assignment.

Who would have thought that there are so many words in the English language that rhyme with "fart".

If I send two emails every day this week, I will be close to hitting my parent-contact goal.

Should I talk to the school counselor about how my fear of parents has resulted in my sentences that contain the phrase "parent-contact" also nearly always including words like "hitting"?

Did I turn off my flat iron before I left home?

If I turn around and walk home to check status my flat iron, will I still have time to make copies before first hour?

And of course...

Yikes! Is that dog jumping higher today or did the fence somehow get lower?

Does my medical insurance cover dog bites?

What would be more painful, teaching all day with a dog-related injury or trying to put together sub plans so I can go to the ER?

How is it I can remember all of the names of my 200+ kidlets, their seating preferences, who they are holding hands with at lunch this week, and their favorite skits from "So Random", but I can't remember to walk on the dog-free side of the street?

Despite the large number of vicious dogs lunging at my throat, my walks to and from school in the fall were a great chance to reflect, de-stress, and breath deeply (or not, depending on which direction the wind was blowing).



But over the last few months, I have gotten out of the habit of starting and ending the school day with a 2 1/2 block constitutional. Much to my (and my exercise-needy backside's) dismay,the combination of the colder weather and a lazier me have resulted in fewer school day strolls.

But when (what was supposed to be) a big snowstorm was set to roll in this week, neither the low temperatures nor my high level of slothfulness could overpower my unwillingness to drive in the snow.

So, on Wednesday morning, I bundled up, left my car in the carport, and set out for school on foot. As I stepped out into the flurry-filled morning, I instantly noticed a change in my mental meandering.

Now my walking thoughts were more along the line of...

• It's kind of chilly.



• Like, really chilly.



• I hope I don't slip and fall.



• If I do slip and fall, I hope it isn't in front of one of my kidlets homes.



• If I do slip and fall in front of one of my kidlets' homes and their families laugh and point at me through their kitchen window, can I count that as a parent contact?



• What if I slip and fall and hit my head and the parent asks me if I need them to call 911?



• If the paramedic or ambulance driver who comes to take me to the hospital is the mother or father of one of my students, can I count THAT as a parent contact, even if I am only semi-conscious?
  It is so interesting how, when the air is colder, the cow aroma takes on a whole new array of subtle nuances.

Anyway, to make a long blog post only slightly less long, the content and quality of my walking-to-school thought processes change significantly with changes in the weather.

I thought about extending this little personal study into the thoughts that I have while driving back and forth to school but, as anyone who has ever seen me drive can attest, not a lot of thinking goes on when I am behind the wheel.

Sad, but true.

Which means that, even when the sidewalks are icy and the blood-thirsty dogs are out in force, it is still much safer for everyone if I walk to school.

The point of the particular post: Winter walking can wilt and wither the wondering of wandering women when wintry winds whip them down the whirling way.

And alliteration should never be taught for 72 minutes at a time.