Patience

Ah, my old friend patience. I've not had much this week and I am not happy about that. It's been a stressful week. We've come back to school full force after a sixteen-day break and while I know that doesn't sound rough, it is. Physically, mentally, emotionally. Especially because we started taking the AIMS on Wednesday, the big Arizona state-mandated test. We tested Wednesday and Thursday and will continue on next week Tuesday and Wednesday. It's stressful: the waiting, the nervousness. Did I teach them enough, do they remember that a five-paragraph essay needs five paragraphs. Are they using the right pencil? Are they on the right page? So yeah, by the end of the test each day our collective patience was used up.
And yet I still had to teach, and the go to golf practice (in a sandstorm) and then go home and maintain a routine life.
All that got me through yesterday was looking forward to yoga class and "finding my center" and those last fifteen minutes where we get to lie in the dark and put our body to sleep then wake it up. It's blissful! And then we got to the gym and couldn't get in because there were too many people from the apartment complex already there - talk about no patience! I was angry.
But I am working on it. Today God's been testing me during our movie. The movie I've watched three times so far today, Tuck Everlasting - a very good flick, an even better novel. We're watching it in class as a reward for finishing the book so quickly and for surviving two days of the test. But watching what is essentially a dramatic love story with 12 year old boys is really trying my patience. But I keep trying.
We're going to try going to yoga this weekend at a studio in town, it's more expensive but I think it'll be worth it. We also got good news about jury duty so it looks like we can make summer travel plans. And I found out if I complete six weeks of online coursework, I can keep my job for another year so I'll begin that in a few days.
Patience - quiet, steady perseverance. I like this definition I found online. That's what I'm going to strive toward: quiet, steady perseverance. I'll let you know how it goes!