Same as it ever was

I guess each time you return someplace it feels slightly less foreign, less jarring to the system to switch from one life to another.

But there was still a moment this morning, (in the exact same spot on the stairwell as the last 'first day back') of who..? wha...? where am I? who the hell are you people?

I'd been hoping to come back all refreshed and rejuvenated, ready to tackle it all again with newfound enthusiasm and gusto. But in reality, I think I'm just picking up where I left off.

The customary sights and sounds were, in a way, comforting in their familiarity: the klickety clack of trendy shoes (not mine) on the shiny, freshly buffed checkered hallways; the morning moose-call of "ELVADRRRR!" as we collect the third floor teachers to go down and pick up the kids; the shrill ring of the phone just as you take your breath to make the final culminating point in your carefully structured mini-lesson; the sighs of defeat in the ongoing search for the working copy machine; and the rhythmic, frustratingly slow chunka-chunk of double-sided copies (when cooperating machinery is finally located.)...

Mouse poo in the same offending corners of closets, only more of it than when I left. The same Himalayas of disheveled papers layered topographically on and around my desk. Same goofy kids with their goofy grins and snide remarks and clumsy sprawling limbs .

Despite my best intentions, I ended the day feeling claustrophobic and grouchy (seven straight hours of test prep will do that to a person.) So I had to call in the best antidote I know - Corky, whom I really missed over break. I lured her to our favorite neighborhood cafe after school under pretense of doing more lesson planning, but really we ended up hashing out our latest life revelations and ponderings and plannings over yuca fries and Colombian beer. And I realized that, as invaluable as she is to me as a coworker, she's become even more important to me as a friend.

Of all the stuff at school that is the same as it ever was, I am most grateful for my friends.