The Dream

I always know when school is right around the corner. Not because of the date, not because of the way the evening starts to get darker earlier (wipe away a tear), and not because my kids are starting to get bored.

Nope. I always know when school is right around the corner because of: THE DREAM. ***Those two words should be said in a menacing voice followed with a wicked laugh.***

I go to bed at night with high hopes of getting a restful night of zzzz's, only to be tormented with THE DREAM. It goes like this: The school year has started. (joy.) Kris is teaching in the Kindergarten classroom with children who look much too old to be in Kindergarten mixed in with children who were in her class last year. The children are pretty much out of control, and around 11:00 in the morning, she realizes there is another teacher in the room. This teacher, who has no face, is wondering why Kris is teaching her class. OH. NO. realizes Kris. She's been in the wrong classroom for most of the morning. What on earth will her principal think? What on earth have her class of 5th graders been doing for 2 and a half hours in her absence? As she runs out of the Kindergarten classroom she can't remember where her real class is and none of her "supposed" teaching friends won't help her out. No. They are too busy teaching their classes.

This is the part where I wake up panicked and anxious about the new school year to come.

Oh, but that's not the only one. There is another DREAM:

In this dream I'm too busy to show up to school until 12:30 in the afternoon. I arrive at school realizing my mistake and jet up the stairs to my class of 5th graders. Surprisingly, they are sitting there patiently waiting for me. But, I cannot find any white paper anywhere. Not.one.scrap.of.white.paper. My teaching partner across the hall is NO HELP. She won't even loan me a piece. She tells me she doesn't know where I can find any, and asks where I've been. The sad part is - I don't know where I've been! But it hasn't been at school, that's for sure! I run down the stairs, run down another set of stairs, then another, and another, and I cannot find any white paper! No teachers are of any help to me. They just keep belittling me because I'm so late for school. At that point I can't take it anymore and I WAKE UP!

Yes, I don't get much REM stage sleep during the last part of July and during the entire month of August. So if you see me staggering around, not making any sense, and begging for just one piece of white paper, you'll know why.