Debut Concert TOMORROW NIGHT!

I've been staying LATE every night after school. First it was to prepare students for auditions for a local ensemble (all made it). Then it was to prepare students for auditions for a state-wide ensemble (2 made it- quite good, considering 1000+ try out for nearly 120 spots).

On Monday, I was at school for 13 hours (stayed past my colleague's concert that evening). Tuesday? 10.5 hours, and I only left because I had church choir rehearsal that evening. Yesterday? 12 hours. Today? 10 hours. Not including a 1.5-2 hour total commute each day.

Parent phone calls. Emails. Each concern is frantic and must be addressed immediately. Many repeat questions even though I've shared the information numerous times through various forms of communication. Uniforms. Visits from angels, also known as parent volunteers. Herding over one hundred adolescents into mixed formations. Coming up with silly choreography (just me doing the gestures) to help the students remember their words. Program-making. Adding two new items to my to-do list after crossing off only one accomplished task.

Somehow, even though I'm tired, even though I'm definitely looking forward to relaxing on Saturday with Westley ... I'm still enjoying this.

Even better, I feel quite confident that things will go well. My kids will be fine. All 275+ of them. Yes, I anticipate some things may not go as planned. I'll be flexible ... and I'll hope that the audience will cut me some slack as a first-year teacher ... even though I've been quite careful to never refer to myself as one in front of my students or their parents. When they ask, I honestly tell them that I worked with college kids last year when I got my Master's and that I worked with high schoolers before that. (I don't share that the high schoolers were not actually my students, as they were actually students in the program in which I student taught...)

I do feel as though I've been marvelously prepared, based on my previous experience and the great support from my department colleague and my principal. I am thanking God for guiding me through all the necessary steps which have aided me in this process as I do this on my own!

Already 10pm?! Must call Westley and go to bed ... as I've gotta rise and shine at 5:30am (and that's sleeping in)! Wish me luck tomorrow!!!