As I wrote the title, it gave me the “first present of Christmas” vibe, from The Polar Express. It’s hard to believe that 2015 is over in 12 hours. Looking back on this blog, the volume of writing continues to go down, which I’ve written about before.  However, it seems just as I’m ready to wrap this thing up, something comes along and I keep on typing away.  I’ve showed my students that I write as I think it’s good for them to see their teacher does something like this, having the same issues with word choice, flow, and just generating ideas.

2015 has been a difficult year on many fronts. I didn’t lose the weight I wanted, had enormous amounts of change thrust upon me, and have just generally felt not right.  That’s not say that some great things haven’t happened: the change at school has felt really good, our vacation to Door County, WI yielded some new places to visit, and we managed to get our addition on our house. I struggle to find the right words to express what I’ve feeling right now, because I’m not sure there are “right” words.  Maybe this is what the “mid-life crisis” feels like and I need to buy a muscle car (not a bad idea by itself!).  Maybe it’s just there’s so much MORE change coming with new things at school, a daughter graduating, and the gradual aging of my parents.

At any rate, I’m not making resolutions this year. I’m terrible at keeping them and it just brings me down reading them in sixth months. However, I do know I want to work on my time with my family, my own health, and continuing to find a balance between school and home.  If I can create positives with those topics, wow, it will be an amazing year, period.

Thank you, those who’ve been faithful readers. I do know that this get a little random, it’s not always education related, and I’m ok with this. I’ve always admired those people who come up with these deep, mind bending posts time and time again. No, you won’t get that here! 🙂  However, I do hope that you get a sense of who I am and what I am in terms of a husband, a dad, a son, and a teacher. These are the things that I hold dear in my heart, and I hope that my writing can convey that to you.

Have a great (and safe) New Year’s Eve, watch the Hawkeyes win tomorrow in the Rose Bowl, and enjoy everything that is 2016!

Peace,

Darin – @AnIowaTeacher