Leaving Is Never Easy....

After several weeks of wondering whether or not I would be able to return to work after every doctor's appointment, the hammer finally fell. On Tuesday, Bob and I went to the multiples doctor again. Neither of us expected to "get benched" as Bob calls it. I was feeling great, work was going well with me doing as much sitting as humanly possible in order to keep teaching, and after getting such a good report following opening day, it came as a complete shock to me that my days at Sam Houston were over.

Even now as I write about it, I'm getting a little weepy. I loved my time at Sam. I've been there for nine years, and I've made some of the best friends I've ever had. I even enjoy all the little personality quirks of my many wonderful students. After the doctor dropped the equivalent of a nuclear bomb on me, Bob and I left the office as quickly as possible. It took a while before I could make those traditional post-appointment phone calls. In fact, I made Bob call his parents first because I couldn't seem to stop crying. We decided to go ahead and let me work on Wednesday so that I was able to get things ready for Tommy (who is going to be subbing for me for the rest of the year).

As Bob drove me to work, I focused on not crying, but as soon as I walked in the door and saw all my friends, I started to bawl, and I think I didn't stop until Bob picked me up and took me to the doctor. It was great to spend my last day with everybody. Laughing and talking like usual really helped me get things together. So many people stopped by to say goodbye, and I really appreciated everyone's kind words. Even now, as I sit on the couch and ponder the rest of the school year along with the next 9 and 1/2 weeks left of our pregnancy, I don't know what I'm going to do without my daily dose of the "gang."

I'm going to miss all of Patrick's great stories of illicit and hunting adventures, Mike's toilet humor (especially in regards to crumbly toilet paper and fresh finishes), Eric's entertaining observations on life in general and in the lounge (and his love of the Rangers), Bryan's stories of the pursuit of love and concert tickets, Tawnay's love of harassing the students with me and all our hallway conversations, Courtney's willingness to bring coupons and to go out to eat and her stories about the funny things Miles is up to, Chris's quiet observations about life and his ability to handle the crazy requests his 8th period girls always throw out (no matter how much they beg, I hope he never gives in and goes to the Hannah Montana Movie), Scotty too Hottie's Colorado dreaming, Mercedes' struggles with her under performing AP students and the love she has for Buddy Jones, Teri's Economic's nerds and making fun of them with her, Poppy's secret love of WWF and Keno, and all of the other characters who pop in and out of our lunchtime fun zone. We definitely have the best department in Arlington if not the universe. :)

I guess now that I'm officially on bedrest, I'm going to miss the prom with Juan Perez that I'd been looking forward to for the last few years. I'm going to have to leave it up to Tawnya to be enough of a date for both him and Jo-El. Bust a move for me, Saracay!