teach.run.pray.

Most weeks, I put in approximately 50 hours of work into my job. Those 50 hours are completed in the school building, in other words, that's how many hours I spend at my workplace versus home. It does not include the hours I spend at home grading papers, writing lesson plans, searching for engaging ideas, or prepping classroom props for room transformations or fun activities. Now, throw a graduate-level class on top of that and maintaining a healthy marriage and social life. I stay pretty busy, and at times, it all gets very overwhelming, so I need ways to decompress. About 10 years ago, I took up running as a way to challenge myself. In turn, running turned into a major stress relieving activity for me, and I fell in love with the runner's high. I became addicted to the freedom and euphoria a hard sweaty run left me with. However, the past few weeks, I've had moments where I made every excuse in the book to not run. I avoided it. The desire was lacking. So, I skipped my

Earlier this week, my students were working away at their desks, and I was near my classroom window grabbing papers from a tray on my back counter. As I stood there turning all the papers in the same direction, in my peripheral vision, I noticed a flash of movement pass by the window. Instantly, my heart dropped. I stopped turning papers, and I slowly turned my head toward the window as my heart pounded in my chest. With a hellacious gasp of relief, I realized the flash was a small branch with dead leaves blowing by. Then, my mind went on a crazy adventure.  What if that flash had been a crazy person? What if I had looked and seen an ill-intended person pointing a gun at me? Would I have been able to get those 16 innocent lives safely out of the classroom? Would I have been calm enough to think rationally? Would I have been brave enough to put my life on the line for them? For the first time in nine years of teaching, I felt afraid. For the first time in nine years of teaching, I t