I Loooooooooooooooove Zumba!

Ok... so... I knew I was planning on going to Zumba tonight... and had thought about working out this morning too... why not, right? Well... when I was still awake after 11:00 I knew getting up at 5 and working out was not going to happen...

Remember that post yesterday? About learning to deal with stress by using exercise.  Today was, shall I say case in point!

It started out a bit rough, my assistant, my WONDERFUL assistant, told me that her husband's surgery (Removal of his third brain tumor)  had been scheduled for April 17th... I have so much anxiety for them...and put out an email to the staff to see about collecting donations to help with their expenses... then  a couple of kids in my homeroom broke some rules and earned themselves a lunch detention... transitioned into one of the more stressful team meetings for our special ed. department that we have had in a lonnnnnggg time... where we were all a bit off and we are usually a cohesive group.. but not today, there was a lot of tension...a lot... then I had a couple of classes that went pretty well... and then... it was time for lunch detention... one of my two students arrived on time, sat in the known location... and I waited for the other student from where I always sit during lunch detention... in the conference room where teachers eat their lunch with a clear view of the area where the kids serve their detention... and I waited... after about 15 minutes (of a 25 minute lunch period) I asked the student who was there if he had seen the other kid and he had... he is in your room, he said, with his friend... Sure enough... I walked into my room and they were sitting side by side, one had his cell phone out (Another no-no) and they were chatting and laughing... Oh no no no!  I went off on them... sent the 'friend' back to the cafeteria after assigning both of them an after school detention... and then went further off on the kid who was in my room.

He's the kid I have advocated for Soooo much this year, really worked hard to help other teachers see that he is not just a big oaf, that he is a good kid... and he pulls this on me??  I. Was. MAD!

Thursday he had sat with me and his parents at parent teacher conferences where we talked about choices he is making vs. choices he needs to make.  We talked about how to behave in my classroom and what the consequences would be.  His parents were VERY Supportive.  So... after sitting in silence until the lunch was over, he asked me why he had the detention.  My eyes must have grown to the size of dinner plates.  Seriously? He said he had not invited his friend to come have lunch with him, that he had just come along.  Didn't invite your friend? Well... here's the deal.. you KNOW where you are supposed to be during lunch detention and you INTENTIONALLY hid from me.  You KNOW that you are not supposed to be socializing during lunch detention.  SERIOUSLY?  So then, under his breath he said... well if you call my mom you are going to ruin her birthday.  ME? I am going to ruin her birthday... oh no no, sir.  YOU made a choice that will upset her.  (I sooooo wanted to leave school and go RUN on that elliptical machine... yes RUN, kick its ass!)  So... afternoon progressed.  I completed detention slips (ensuring that the two do not have detention on the same night, they would enjoy that.)  and also made sure that this kid miss his very first lacrosse practice AND made sure that after detention is over, he would NOT be allowed to go to the remainder of lacrosse practice.  Thankfully his coach was on board.

Then in homeroom he asked me if he could go to lacrosse, after I had told him the answer.  And I did not even answer him, just looked at him, shook my head and gave him my best disappointed look and went to do my afternoon duty.  After students were dismissed I found him in our room, sitting on my desk, head down... and when I came back in I asked why he was there.  He told me he was there for detention.  I told him that his detention was an office detention, not a hanging out with me to do homework kind of detention... and told him to go... and he asked if I was mad at him.  I asked him, based on my body language, tone of voice, and facial expressions,  what he thought the answer to that question was... and he said, yes you are mad at me.  I thought: Darn skippy I am! But said, yes, Yes I AM mad at  you and more than that I am wicked disappointed, wicked disappointed.    He said, but YOU, of all people... I can't have YOU mad at me... I looked at him, waited for him to pick up his head and said... You know I care about you, and you also know that I have given you fair warning that your behavior has been declining and we talked about it at conferences.  You knew that bad choices would have consequences...and you manipulated me today, took advantage of the fact I have trusted you.  And he asked if I would still be mad at him tomorrow... I told him that I would probably be past my anger, but that I would continue to be disappointed.  He asked if we would be okay again, if I would be able to not be disappointed.. and I told him that he and I have had a good relationship so far this year, but that his actions today really damaged that relationship.  I told him that whether or not it is repaired is up to him.  He said he wanted to fix it... and I told him that the only way to do it was to show me, every day that I could trust him, depend  on him, BELIEVE him and IN him... and he said he will... show me that he wants to fix it.  So we'll see...

So today was just YUCKY... yeah I am sure it will have a positive impact on him and all that teachable moment stuff. blah blah blah... but it drove me CRAZY... And I wanted to get out of that building and run, lift weights, throw things... so after school.. I had planned on staying and getting some work done... I needed to LEAVE... fly out of there... and really WANTED the gym... but had promised two friends I would go to Zumba and knew if I went to the gym I would be too tired for Zumba... So instead I went shopping... and no, did not get ice cream or food, but I did buy some things I have been wanting to help me take care of myself... I bought a grill pan that I can use on my stovetop... been wanting one to have more variety in what I eat... and bought a new waterbottle, a glass one... I used to use those plastic ones, then it was said that they were not healthy.. so I had switched to the aluminum ones.. and have never really been thrilled with them, but they hold water and help me drink more of it by having a couple available to me in my classroom... to today I found one at Target, for $9.99 (A lot cheaper than the Whole Foods equivalent for $25)  and I came home cleaned it and took it with me to Zumba and I love it!

So yes, I went to Zumba... Picked Suellen up on the way and she made the mistake of asking how my day was... let's just say she got an earful!  Then... I was at Zumba... and it was PACKED... wall to wall people packed, which I normally don't like... All of the songs were familiar, so I felt somewhat coordinated and was really able to push myself to work hard, and had Fun, caught myself dancing and shaking things more than usual, and smiling... and before I Knew it it was the last song, time to cool down.  Noooooooooooo, I thought to myself.  I - Want- MORE!!!  I could have done another half hour of Zumba, at least!  And... it Sooooooooooooo helped!  I left there smiling, I am sure my blood pressure was lower... and I felt good... (And there was a mini pilates lesson afterwards that I stayed for... another first...like yoga, I don't think we will become fast friends.... )

I LOVE ZUMBA!!