Sunday, March 20, 2011

grieving

I've been a little MIA from the blog...just outta time the past few days.

Since Wednesday things have been somewhat chaotic.
I have been on Spring Break but very sadly one of our dear, dear teachers passed away on Wednesday morning...she was so very loved by our community and her passing was somewhat unexpected. She had been hospitalized for about 7-10 days but with the expectation she was getting better and would have a long recovery period. Sadly, things did not turn out that way. She was 60.

I am a FIRST year school counselor and well...so far I think I'm holding it together but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit anxious or stressed about the coming week. At times, I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

I've been told that I'll be doing small groups (9 students) with the entire 5th grade class (she taught all of them, as our 5th grade has 3 teachers). I've been doing a lot of research on-line and I've reached out to some fellow counselors, some have responded in help, others have flaked on me completely (what a disappointment!).

There was a wake on Friday night and her funeral was Saturday morning. I was a blubbering mess at both. Once the bagpipes began playing Amazing Grace I knew I was done for...that's a tear-trigger for me, as it was played @ my grandma's funeral as well. Then the entrance hymn was "On Eagles Wings"...an absolutely beautiful song and quite popular for funerals too. 

Anyway, it's Sunday and we have a 4pm Faculty meeting to discuss/brainstorm how we will handle the coming week. The principal will be in the classroom with the students the first 2 days, possibly longer. We had already hired an interim teacher for the rest of the year as we knew she was not coming back.

So, I've prepped some handouts and such to share at today's meeting...we'll see how that goes. I have a headache now.

Hope your Sunday is better.

3 comments:

Travel & Dive Girl said...

Ahh, my thoughts will be with you this coming week. Dealing with grief is never easy, especially when you have to be strong for others around you. Good luck - I know you'll do great - your resiliant.

Beatriz said...

I am sorry to hear about the teacher. Always a difficult situation to deal with, now made worse by having to explain it to 5th graders. Good luck.

justem said...

I read this earlier but didn't leave a comment. It's crazy...my school district (not my exact school) had a first grade teacher die of cancer the exact same day as your teacher. She had worked this year and many of my colleagues and students knew her well. It was a rough week at work last week. :( Thinking about you and hoping your week is going okay.