School has been is session for 3 weeks. Which means a couple of things.
One, I can no longer recall this past summer. And two, I can’t envision next summer ever arriving.
Other than that, this school year has been great.
We’ve survived registration, Institute Day, Open House, the start of the football season, and the first full moon.
Since these big events are behind us, it’s time to settle into the everyday routine.
Routine is always good, but tiring.
This became clear to me on Thursday evening. That’s when I decided to get up early Friday to exercise.
I didn’t plan to jog before work for the normal reason (exercise so I don’t have a heart attack in the hallway because it might be perceived as weakness…), but for a new reason.
I needed a nap after school on Friday.
School has been in session for over 15 days and I’m exhausted.
One might think I would be better off sleeping in and then exercise after school concludes on Friday afternoon.
Nope.
A quality nap is the type of long-term goal that gets me through the day. But it does need to be preplanned.
I schedule my naps so I can not only enjoy the experience, but I can enjoy the anticipation of the experience.
It kind of makes sense when you think about it (if you think about it and you are me…).
The ability to plan is a key to surviving as an administrator (notice I didn’t say succeed… just survive).
So on Friday morning, I got up bright and early at the precrack of dawn to jog. It was dark but the moon provided enough light to safely run.
I grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed out into the early morning.
It was cool and I had the streets to myself. Perfect weather.
I don’t mind saying that I was cruising along. 3 miles from the house and it seemed like I could go forever.
Then it hit me.
I’m not comfortable describing exactly what hit me, but please know it wasn’t good.
I quickly recognized that while I had put a plan in place to exercise, I didn’t have the all-important Plan B.
If you are a runner, you know that in this case Plan B stands for bathroom.
This was a problem.
So I considered my options and quickly realized I didn’t have time to put together a committee.
I was on my own. A school administrator’s worst nightmare (after all, there is safety in numbers).
I’m no math teacher but when I run 3 miles away from the house, it is roughly 3 miles back to the house.
There is an educational lesson here.
Administrators need the ability to only plan, but the skill to quickly come up with Plans B, C, and D when their first plan fails.
And it almost always does.
This happens with scheduling, curriculum, athletics, AYP, and just about everything else that is part of running a school.
In my case Plan A (exercise) was a big success. Plan B was a little trickier, but I made it home.
Barely.
Plan C was the nap. After all of my work, what could possibly go wrong with me getting a little shut eye after school on Friday.
I rushed home, changed out of my school armor (shirt and tie), turned the TV channel to golf, and snuggled in with my best buddy (Buddy the Dog… and yes we were spooning… don’t judge us… because you don’t understand our love…).
I immediately went to that place where I’m almost asleep but still awake.
Then I heard it.
It was the end of Plan C, the nap.
My evil spawn throwing open the door, tossing her book bag aside, and yelling… “You two are pathetic… who sleeps on Friday right after school?”
Apparently, not me.
Lessons to be learned: One, exercise is a good thing. Two, fiber bars are tasty and filling before an early morning run, but they are also fast acting.
Lastly and most importantly, you can never anticipate everything that might happen to derail your plans. Especially if your opponent is an 8 year old evil spawn.
