Whew! Spring's (technically) Here!

Hey, it's been too long.

Just like all of my other buddies, I've been neglecting you, too, dear blogheads.
I guess in some twisted way, you should feel a sense of belonging to my inner circle?

Anyways, It is now April, a full 3 months since my last post on here. Of course, as per usual, a lot of stuff is going on. All at once mind you!!!

I committed the big chop. I cut of all my hair. It had to be done. Everybody asks me (in varying degrees of excitement and disappointment), "WHY!!!"
Simply put, the hair was too bloody heavy. I weighed it, and it came close to three pounds of hair. Yep, three whole pounds of weight on my head. Instead of the regal array of tresses I had hoped for, I had endless headaches, dizziness and stiffness of the neck and back (my neck...my back...)... It got to the point where I would take Excedrin and it seemed like the pain would just scoff at my attempts at alleviation and just intensify for good measure.

So, on this past frigid St. Valentine's Day morning, I cut it all off. I could feel the pain leave my head and neck as soon as I did it. If you know me, you know there was some other metaphysical stuff going on as well. This chop has been a long time coming...about three months to be exact. I just felt the urge to be free of it.

What was more interesting was people's reactions to my new short 'do. Some were surprised. Some were disappointed. Some were even traumatized. I had a parent of one of my former students come in and tell me that I traumatized her son, "Ben" (fictitious name to protect the underage). Ben's mother said, "When he came home from school that day, he didn't even say 'hello mommy.' The first thing he screamed was, 'Miss K cut off all her hair!!!'"

But, other than that, people have been just fine about it. The boyfriend, who has not laid eyes on my baby fro, says, "I love you, hair or no hair. Tu eres todavia mi querida mujer." But I will see what his reaction is for sure when I go back to DR to visit in July. LOL this will be interesting!

Since we're talking about mi novio, I can report to you that I am still with B. Many people are marveling at the fact that this long-distance thing hasn't totally killed the relationship yet. We'll be approaching the one year mark this summer, and we're still going fine. However, I would be una mentirosa if I told you that this journey with B was without its "moments" (for lack of desire for a pejorative term to describe it).

The distance has been hard for the both of us. With only the phone really to keep us in touch with each other, it's hard to communicate how you feel, be it good or not so good. But, perhaps that is part of what is keeping us together? The simplicity of our conversations with each other doesn't lend itself to too much conflict. Whether that is a good thing or bad remains to be seen in the long haul of it all.

CHING-CHING! (subject change with lack of proper segue)
Teaching is great, and a great pain in the ass sometimes. But hey, what profession isn't? I am still here, still teaching and still loving my work with the students. The administration and adults in the mix, I could take or leave, even on a good day. In the midst of this spring break, I've been able to really reflect on what it is that I need to do for my teaching career. Trying to answer questions like, "do I wanna do this for the rest of my life?" "where will I teach after New York City?" "how does starting a family figure into this equation?"

And that's only part of what's going on in this curly-headed little brain of mine.

But, I'll end here, sated with the fact that I have blown off sufficient steam and updated you in the process....

-J