The Pyrenees---Southern France

The Pyrenees---Southern France

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Colleagues Who Double as Friends...Or Is It Friends Who Just Happen to Be Colleagues?

          If you've never experienced it, teaching is a lonely profession...

          Parents who spend all day (every day) with their children...think about how they yearn for an adult to talk to.  They're pulled in a million directions at one time, there's rarely "time off" in their schedule because they can't put their kids on hold while they drink some coffee or prop their feet up and read a bit of the newspaper.  It's like a game of tag...and they're always it.

           Imagine they don't have one or two or even six or seven kids.  Instead, they have 24.  And they're trapped in a room all day with them.  (Which means they are grossly outnumbered.)

        When the last bell has rung and the last car rider and walker have trudged down the hall and out of the building, teachers need to debrief.  They need to vent, and laugh at what they can and rail against the things they can't change.

photo by Kevin Hutchinson
(Sometimes I feel like I'm headed towards a cliff...)

          When I desperately need to go home---my day officially ended two or three hours ago and the couch is calling me---I often first go upstairs to room 22.  My friend/colleague/cheap free therapist is hard at work (she burns even more midnight oil than I do), and I can de-stress before heading down the highway.  When I pull myself up that flight of stairs, usually that adds another hour to my day, but it's well worth it.

          What do you value most in your friend/colleague?  What do they bring to the table that sustains you the most?

2 comments:

  1. Hi Sioux,
    You are blessed to have such a good friend and collegue. I have a few who fit that category, too.
    What do I value most in a friend? Someone who makes me laugh and who listens but doesn't judge or tell me what to do to fix things.
    Donna V.

    ReplyDelete
  2. We certainly all do need at least one fantabulous friend! :D
    Gosh, what do I value most? Loyalty would be first. Then a sense of humor similar to mine! An upbeat outlook on life. Similar interests.

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