OK, this has been crazy.
A week ago, I finished my long-term gig at Cam High (I’ll post some very cool stuff on Wednesday). Loved it. 99% sure I want to go back full-time. That night, I boarded a plane to head east to help Kyle move from Wilson, NC, to Ashland, OH, where he has been hired as the Assistant Coach for the Ashland University Swim and Dive program (very proud).
But something (not-so-) funny happened on my way to the Carolinas…
The Thomas fire exploded in my own backyard. I had heard the first rumblings of it on the news as I parked my car at the airport. By the time I landed for my red-eye connecting flight in Philadelphia, all hell had broken loose.
Luckily, we’re not in the direct path. But we did lose power, and with a family member on an oxygen concentrator, there was concern. By the time we got power–much sooner than most in our county–we had learned that close friends had had to evacuate their homes. And some had lost theirs.
All week long, I monitored the situation at home while trying to help Kyle while trying to keep my head above water in my Masters course (yes, I’m back in the saddle there, as well). I flew back yesterday to find the smoke visible from the plane while I was still over the Riverside-ish area. The devastation to the county has been pretty bad.
Worse, while we seem safe, the fire continues to rage (last night, it grew from 175k acres to 223k this morning), putting more of our friends at risk. The weather conditions are making it worse, and there have been announcements that the fire itself probably won’t be contained for a couple of weeks…which means Christmas.
I’m going to dive back into The Tempest tomorrow–or that’s the plan at least. I’m also working on my Masters class, as well as preparing a paper that I’ll be presenting in late March in Indianapolis.
One of the teachers who helped me get the long-term sub gig lost her home. She contacted me last night. She knows she will be out of the classroom quite a bit in the near future, and she’s asked me to work with her to be a consistent fill-in for her and her students.
So there’s much to do, but I’m back. (I swear).