1) Sarah the Superstar sent me a spectacular package in the mail today. It contained: Six bodacious bookmarks (including an Arthur one), three vanilla scented tealights, a Boxing Bones pen, two packets of ZEN tea, a bottle of sparkly nail polish, two library pencils and a library magnet (Because Sarah-Sura is the sexiest librarian ever), a cake of blue star-shaped soap, and the sweetest card in the world. Plus, there were Edward Gorey and Wind in the Willows stickers on the box. Sarah hon, I can’t even begin to tell you how much I appreciated this. So I’ll just say that I can’t wait for drinks with you when you come and visit Boston, and that when you do come, you’re going to get a hug that cracks your (delicate) ribs — so be sure to wear a thick sweater.

2) Ross’s calm, green-brown eyes when I come home from a rotten day.

3) I got a long, newsy email from Erica this morning which I totally did not deserve, considering the fact that I have been completely negligent about emailing or calling the people who are dearest to me (including Erica). It was just the thing to read while I was injecting coffee into my veins, and was clearly designed to be lovingly distracting. It worked — I felt both loved and distracted. (I also felt a strong desire to watch The West Wing, under a blanket in a living room with a low slanty ceiling.)

4) My dad and his brother are working on writing a history of my grandfather’s life — and this week I got the first installment. I can’t wait to read more — someday, folks, there will be a S*thi family tome you can put on your living room table!

5) My mom just keeps sending me the BEST emails. If anyone out there needs a penpal, I highly recommend my mom.

6) My friends still love me even though I have disappeared from the face of the planet. I do not deserve such good treatment, but I will attempt to make up for it by making some phonecalls this weekend.

7) There are two girls I teach whom I would love to take home with me, and I chatted with one of them for a long time this morning. During the conversation she approved of my hair, which is growing out kind of shaggy. Yes, a 10 year old made me feel better about my hair — I need all the validation I can get at this point! :-)

I’ll stop at lucky seven… I really am blessed.

I know, I know. I’ve been awfully neglectful of the one and a half people in my regular audience. Sorry, gentle readers! I didn’t mean to make you click and click and click, only to be confronted with the same five photographs of the New England fall (fast becoming the New England winter. We’ve had some 24 degree nights here, people).

In the interest of easing back into more consistent writing here, I’m going to try to make short entries that come more frequently. I’m also going to try not to write about work, since it makes me very sad. I think I can sum up the state of my school by telling you two things:

1) I don’t think anyone (else — we lost a teacher a month into school who just got replaced) will actually leave, but based on conversations with my colleagues I would estimate that at least half of the staff regularly fantasizes about quitting. And this is not a whiney group of people — this is a team of incredibly resilient professionals.

2) My boss (who, I guess, isn’t really my boss any more since he’s about to lose his title as headmaster) just emailed the minutes of a meeting he had with two administrators yesterday afternoon, and one of the items was “We discussed the viability of the school as an institution,” given the issues we’re having. My boss, who founded this school, whose vision this all is, does not know whether or not we will survive. That is heavy.

The kids are still funny. Scary, and funny. Scary: A boy in the other 5th grade Humanities class attempted to attack one of his classmates with a chair on Tuesday. Funny: Out of the blue the other day, one of my girls handed me an enormous manila envelope full of printed out Greek myths. I think she intended it as a present, not as extra credit work. I have to write her a thank you note. :-)

In non-school news, last night I had the enormous pleasure of listening to AAM squeal, gurgle, giggle, and scream on the phone. He was very talkative; I think Gabriel was monkeying around to make him laugh. It was one of the sweetest (and loudest!) sounds I have heard in a very long time. Hooray for gurgly babies! He sounds like he’s becoming a lot of fun (apart from the chronic constipation followed by explosive pooping. That part’s probably not so much fun. Although it’s very amusing for me to hear about).