I Was Going To... But...

Two weeks ago I turned 27. It really is true that as you get older, your birthday gets less exciting. It also is less than exciting when a coworker decides that your 27th birthday is the perfect opportunity to inform the rest of your coworkers that you're turning 30. Being instantly aged 3 years was a little more traumatic than I would have anticipated. Especially when you realize that the majority of your current coworkers (in the elementary school, anyway) are the average age of 22. Although many fun things happened on my birthday this year, I think that was the most entertaining.... and horrifying.

The great thing about being an elementary school teacher who has a birthday during the school year is that no matter how unenthusiastic I am about my birthday, my students always get all hyped up. They start crafting cards the week before - then lose the cards in the abyss in which they lose other various school assignments and make quick ones on scrap paper on the day of. Last year, my students threw me a "surprise" party. This year, they were less prepared. Although, one student did ask for permission to throw me a surprise party. I told her it would be fine, but that perhaps we should just call it a party (critical thinking is not a class strong suit this year).

Definitely one of the highlights of this year's birthday happened at the end of the day. One of my students came up to me and told me of this grand plan that she and some other girls had cooked up. This is the story as was told to me: "We were going to do a surprise for you. We were going to blow up a lot of balloons and then have the principal put them in the room for when you came in in the morning. We were going to hang up a poster that said Happy Birthday on it. But then we didn't have balloons. And then we didn't have any paper to make a sign. We were going to have a surprise for you... but then we didn't."

I assured her that this was quite all right and that I didn't need a surprise. But I was thankful for the story as it provided me with quite a few laughs over the next few days.

And it also got me to thinking... I do that all the time. Things like, "I was going to study Chinese, but then I went out with friends and ate Chinese food instead, which is totally ok because I probably picked up a new word during that time." Or, "I was going to take the time to make friends with that person, but then I watched a movie instead, which was really helpful because it had a good lesson about friendship." Or, "I was going to plan a really amazing science lesson with experiments and examples and explosions, but then I realized I'd have to cut into my studying time for Chinese or my time to make friends with that person (i.e. my eating and relaxing time), so I didn't." I have grand plans and good ideas, and then I think to myself, "I was going to... but...." And then I feel all self-satisfied because everyone knows that it's the thought that counts.

I think I'd rather not live this way - especially as I seem to be speeding through the years at the rate of 3 years for every 1 year (at least according to some people). So I think now is the perfect time to make a New Year's resolution, as I find birthdays much more reflective than a simple calendar date. No excuses. If I don't do it, then I didn't. And I'm going to look for ways to make it happen. If I need to, or ought to, then I'll say it or do it. At least, that's what I'm going to do....