"Don't Worry 'Bout a Thing"

It's here, y'all. Summer is coming to a close and in a few short weeks our lives will be blessed by another group. 

I finally made myself go to my classroom (yes, I know, procrastination at its finest) and when I saw my room my jaw hit the floor. Being a first year teacher, I'm not sure if I would have rather walked into a completely bare room or into the classroom I walked into. Don't get me wrong, I'm very thankful for so many wonderful resources, but at this point I have no idea which way to turn, where to start, or what to do. I feel like I'm drowning in a sea of ABC magnets, picture cards, lamination, and toys.

 I have so many things on my mind that I don't even know where to begin, so what do I do? I call my fiancé, have a meltdown, ask him for help (then don't take his advice), figure out that my plan isn't following through, quit for the day, go relax by the pool and Pinterest my dream classroom. Effective and productive, right? During my little meltdown, one thing my fiancé said to me slapped me in the face. I really think it's something most first year teachers, who are in the same boat, should hear. 

While I'm standing in the middle of the Dollar Store isle, with tears in my eyes, trying to decide which baskets will be big enough to organize the plethora of half-eaten crayons, plastic insects and farm animals scattered around my room, he looked at me and said, "Even if your kids walk into your classroom on the first day of school and you have absolutely nothing prepared, they will still have you and everything will be perfectly fine". That hit me like a ton of bricks - like stopped me in my tracks and made me have one of those light bulbs on your head, "ah-ha" moments. Everything IS going to be perfectly fine. It doesn't matter if my Shabby Chic Woodland Animal theme posters are hung or if the creepy plastic insects and dinosaurs are sorted and organized. What matters is that my students feel welcome and loved the minute they walk through my door. I'm not going to lie, I'm still having a slight panic attack every time I remember that yesterday, I was greeted by a sign hung on a huge bookcase that was blocking my hallway that read "wet wax", and that it will be several more days before I can get back to work. But oh well.  Everything will be just fine. 

I just keep reminding myself why I do what I do!