Thursday Thoughts, or Thoughtful Thursday. I guess

It is Thursday.

It is the end of November.

Tomorrow starts my busiest month of the year. I am sure that it is busy for you as well since all sorts of music-based celebrations happen during this month. 

I was informed that "we" are doing a Sunday School Sunday on the 17th. I was not part of the planning, and I now have to figure out how to get something special for my class to do on their own since the other two teachers had a conversation and decided that my class would "help" their classes with their ideas but no one told me about anything... again. I have now requested that we talk to each other about these special things as a TEAM and not a dyad. I am always left out of those conversations until 15 minutes before Sunday School starts and then I have to scrap my plans to accommodate theirs. It is very frustrating because it feels that I am being sabotaged at the last minute with excuses like "well, WE talked about it last week." The "we," though never includes all of us. It includes two and not me.

So, as we prepare to leave November to get to December, I am adding up the stuff that I need to get going for this coming month. I have a Holiday Sing to host on the 20th, the Sunday School something for the 17th, Christmas caroling with the church on the afternoon of the 17th, the Angel Tree Remembrance service on the 6th. I am sure that I am forgetting something, but there you go. This is just what I know is happening on specific dates. We also have a visit from Santa and his reindeer and one of the local middle schools coming to perform holiday dances with my students at some point. We may have a holiday dinner, but it doesn't look like it right now - there are rumors of a feud between two teachers who would be involved with that particular thing. We also have a facility staff holiday party on the 6th. 

I am already exhausted, and I am on the verge of the busiest month of the year. So, it is time to simplify. My Sunday Schoolers will create art for the 17th and help the other classes with their presentations. The Holiday Sing will be our version of caroling so we do not have to "go" anywhere. We will not be performing, we will be just sharing music. I have to figure out how to make this work if I cannot play the guitar which I might not be able to do by the end of December, but that I might. That's something else that is happening right now. I go to the doctor tomorrow to see if I have healed enough to start occupational therapy to stretch and strengthen my finger. That will be just something else to put on the list of things to do.

I have finished this month with 38,863 new words in my book. Not bad for a first foray into NaNoWriMo. I stopped writing at the beginning of this week because I am at a point where I need to think more about the plot. This was a fun experiment, and I will do it again. In fact, I might just keep going with this project on weekends.

I yearn to make a book, though. My fingers will not cooperate, but I have book ideas and lots of stuff to make them with just sitting here...waiting.

I am excited about the darkness. I have enjoyed watching the moon wax and wane in the early mornings. I also get to see the stars in my morning commutes. I feel so much better in the winter months than I do in the summer months. So, even though this upcoming month will be the busiest of my year, I am happier than I was in June.

I will try to refrain from complaining during this next month.

I have been asked, several times this week, when I put up my Christmas tree. I don't take it down, but I also don't turn on the lights until later in the month. I just don't decorate for holidays. I haven't taken my tree down since December 2020. I moved it to my house in 2021 completely decorated. It helps that it is only four feet high so it fits in the back of my car completely assembled and decorated, but I have not moved things or added ornaments since then. Part of this is a grief process. I decorated the tree in 2020 because I was unable to go home. I needed a bit more Christmas at home than usual. My father was dying, and our Christmas celebrations were muted a bit by the separation, the pandemic, and the future events. On Christmas morning, my cat got very sick, and I had to make the most difficult decision that any pet owner has to make. So, my decorated tree is a time capsule of sadness for me. Even though my rational mind tells me differently, my emotional mind wants to hold on to the life I had on December 24, 2020 rather than the life I experienced on December 25th and January 7th. Does it make any logical sense to keep my tree up? Of course not, but emotions often overwhelm my logic, so I keep my tree in the corner of my living room.

It is time to get myself going into the warmish world. Our temperatures are at 44 degrees Fahrenheit which is warmer than it has been for a long time. We are supposed to get some rain today changing into snow tomorrow. For right now, though, it is warm. I have clean sheets to put on my bed this evening. I have to lead one group and one individual session today. My intern is leading two groups and two individual sessions. I developed a template for writing sequencing song therapeutic music experiences, and I finished one. I selected the card that said "5 sequencing TMEs." I have to design a lyric sheet/presentation for a song called "B-A-Bay" before the TME is complete. With the template, I can add in specific details to a general format in order to be a bit more efficient in my TME creation process. I have thirty-two cards with suggestions on them. I intend to pull one every week to help me develop new TMEs. I will also create templates for the other card suggestions. I have a list of other songs that I can use for sequencing TMEs. It is time to formalize those TMEs. The best thing about sequencing songs is that I get to make visuals to go with the songs. I love making visuals. The song I selected for the first TME uses letters rather than pictures. I already have letter visuals so I don't have to create anything from scratch for this TME, but I do want to make some lyric sheets and a presentation to go along with it.

Well, this Thoughtful Thursday is certainly a long one. I guess I have lots of thoughts today. See you tomorrow? I hope so...