First Day of School, 2023

In a few hours, I'll get in the car and head down the mountain to Spartanburg.  I'll see if I can get the key to my office.  I'm hoping to get copies of my syllabus made, but if not, I have my own copy.  I'm supposed to sign a contract; hopefully I can figure out where I go to do that.  I'm really glad that I went to see the campus way back at the beginning of June.  I'd feel deep anxiety today if I hadn't.

I don't feel anxiety today.  I know how to run the first day of class, and I know where and when my classes are meeting.  I know that I am allowed to park anywhere I can find a space, and I know which building is the one where my classes will meet.  That is all I need to know today.  I will bring a book, in case I can't access the internet.  I will bring a calendar, the old-fashioned kind printed on paper.  I will bring my cell phone, but I may leave it in the car.

I'm thinking way, way back to when I first started teaching.  I wanted a briefcase kind of thing, but I wanted it to look a bit funkier.  I had in mind a messenger bag kind of thing.  I am realizing that I need something similar today.  Happily, I have something that will work without having to clear out my backpack.  My mom used it before she gave it to me--she used it during her church job, and then she repurposed it for a sort of diaper/supply bag when my nephew was young, and then I used it for a gym bag of sorts, the bag that held my spin shoes and some hair clips (I had a different bag for my office clothes, make-up, and work shoes).  When I cleared it out, I discovered an old pair of clean socks that I kept there, just in case I needed them or someone else did.

Good news!  The bag holds my huge mug that I will fill with water.  So far, it's been fairly spill-proof.  I am thinking back to my first day of teaching, long ago in 1988.  I didn't bring water with me everywhere I went.  I showed up with syllabi, which I handed out.  And then I stationed myself behind a podium, where I kept a death grip for the whole class.

I am lucky--that first class was bright and engaged and wonderful.  My life might have taken a very different trajectory had I been assigned a different class.  I'm glad that I had the group of students that I did.

Let me go take a walk; I likely won't have a chance later today.