I've Got A Secret

Proceed with caution.  Before you begin reading I must tell you that the news I am about to reveal may disturb some of you.  Consider yourself warned.

I have a confession to make.  I was caught fondling school supplies by an Office Depot employee last week.  While my daughter was searching for the perfect binder, I was caressing the notebooks and feeling the weight of the paper, fantasizing about what my handwriting would look like between the margins.  Yes, I also own a label maker, and use it to its fullest potential in many different settings.  Not surprisingly, in order to mask my addiction, I went into teaching so that I could appear reputable, all the while hiding the fact that I found great pleasure in retractable Sharpies and reveled in Super Sticky Post-it Notes.  Now you (and the Office Depot employees) know my secret: I am a school supply junkie.

And so it makes sense that this is my favorite time of year.  Sharpened pencils, the smell of a brand new dry erase marker...I could go on and on.  But there are other reasons, too.  There's the fact that I work in a place where it's hard to get anything done the week before school starts because the adults are very busy catching up after being apart for so long.  There's the fact that many of us have been together through weddings, funerals, babies, and illnesses and are connected on many levels.  There's the fact that they stimulate and challenge me intellectually, support me emotionally, and some just make me laugh when I need it or when I least expect it.  They are more than ready to celebrate with me as this phase of the journey draws to a close in the coming weeks, and I certainly look forward to it.  Until then, I will continue the countdown and give thanks for the daily presence of the people who surround me most of the year (nestled among the school supplies.)

In case you have lost count I am happy to report that I only have 2 treatments to go, which means that I have survived 22 weeks of Chemo Cocktails!  (I cannot begin to put into words how ecstatic I am about that!)  Side effects continue, and the strangest one at the moment is termed chemo-induced peripheral neuropathy, which basically means that my fingers and toes can tingle, hurt, react to heat (as in a shower), etc.  The good news is that my oncologist gave me a prescription for it, which not only works really well, but also causes sedation.  Since one of my other side effects has been insomnia, it has balanced out my sleeping!  I also have a teeny bit of stubble on my head.  Another wave of ecstasy.  (That ranks right up there with beautifully patterned file folders but sssshhhh, don't tell!)