Trying to Breathe

No, I am quite literally TRYING to BREATHE at the moment.
Some nasty, mutant cold-flu hybrid has been floating around campus, and,  golly if it didn't strike me with a vengeance, I don't know what did. It all started with a mildly scratchy throat, then a sore throat, then a fever, then the sinuses. Good Lord, the sinuses. I can't hear out of my right ear now, thanks to the sinuses. But hey, I'm thankful because today was the best I've felt since Thursday night. I was essentially a useless zombie over the weekend, a useless, snotty bag a flesh lobbed into bed with the cats taking advantage of their new, immobile space heater.
I'd like to pretend they huddled up next to me because they cared and pitied me, but, really we all know the truth. Cats are shamelessly selfish, self-seeking creatures. At least they make no effort to conceal this fact, and, this, perhaps, is why we love them so.


Oh, and then there's the mountain of papers building around the couch and my study. They even took residence in my bed, for a while, when I was silly enough to think I might manage cranial activity in my dilapidated state. Yeah, not so much.
But, I was back in classes today, and golly, I remembered why I love this job. It's not easy. My schedule has run rampant. When I'm not at work, I'm tutoring. When I'm not tutoring, I'm at home, cleaning, grading, resting, cooking. When I'm not doing that, I'm involved in some sort of school activity. If I'm not doing that, it's a social activity like baby showers or weddings. If it's not that, it's family. If it's not family, then it's church. If it's not church it's an activity related to school.  And the vicious cycle begins again. AND YET I'm really happier in my work than I've ever been. I love these kids. I love what we are studying. I love that we get to share knowledge with each other, that they ask questions and I ask questions, that we can think and learn and grow together. And, dagnabbit, they just might be absorbing some of what I'm saying.
At least I hope.
There are days when I can tell them ten times what the assignment for tomorrow is, and, lo and behold, I wake up and there are a dozen emails asking "What does this mean???" Sometimes it's legitimately my error in communication, other times . . . I wonder . . .
I feel like all I write about is how busy I am. I hope this doesn't become a trend.