gone fishin'...

Not really.

I've never really gotten what the attraction for fishing is.  Having never actually caught a fish, I guess.

It was the homily at Mass this morning.  How we are called to "fish"...to evangelize.  And it's not really an optional thing - it's part of who and what we are.

A lot of mornings at Mass, I am there "alone".  Not really alone - I'm not the only one there - but I don't have any one with me..."unaccompanied" might be the word.  But today I sat with a couple of friends.  One falls into the "church lady friend" category and the other was a work friend.  The church lady friend and I met a few years ago at Mass at another parish, and would run into each other at various places.  Eventually we went for coffee after Mass, and a friendship has developed. (Coincidentally, we were meeting for coffee this morning after Mass.)

My work friend, I have known for quite a few years.  When she worked in my classroom several years ago, she would often mention that she had gone to Mass before school.  It is because of her that I started going to Mass - at the very least, she planted the seeds.  Or in today's theme, she threw out the net.  Her attendance at Mass has come and gone with various stages in her life.  Sometimes she will join me morning after morning for months, and then other things interfere.  Today was the first morning she had joined me in many months.  She said it was the result of my "fishing".  I told her I was there because of hers.  Weird how that all works.  A further reminder that we don't need to go into far-off mission fields to evangelize.

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It may appear that I have indeed Gone Fishin' by the scarcity of blog posts lately, but I am still right here.  It is just one of those points in my life where there is lots going on, but little worth writing about.

School has started; we are finishing our third week, and I have yet to teach kids.  I have done tons of paperwork; written and held 4 IEP meetings, made 2 different schedules, helped several people set up Promethean Boards and trouble-shoot problems, done at least 30 minutes of lunch duty every single day, given potty breaks, called for records, written 4 behavior plans and designed the charts to track them, etc.  I haven't been idle.  I just have no idea how I am going to teach AND keep up with paperwork.  When I voiced that to my supervisor...well, you know what is important to them.

One reason that I have yet to teach kids is that our school is losing 3 teachers this week.  This means that on Tuesday after Labor Day, we will have a First Day of School all over again...new schedules...the whole thing.  We are going from an 8 period day to a 7 period day.  Remediation is being cut, as is our 2-period Math class.  Not sure how we will raise our all-important test scores.  And on that note...

hope you have a great Labor Day weekend!