Living The Good Life

I have to admit, it has been quite awhile since I have actually been awake to ring in the new year and say goodbye to the old.  Dave and I have always been a bit more concerned about the eight hours of sleep necessary to enjoy life rather than seeing the ball drop.  But this year...is different.   It is 12:58 and the neighbor's hired band just started, there are rapid fire explosives (aka fireworks) going off in three minute intervals, and the car alarms throughout our block seem to be answering the loving call of said fireworks.  There will be no eight hours to start off the year for the Richert's this time. Nothing about our experiences in Ecuador could be classified as typical, and New Year's Eve is proving to be no exception.  The evening started out quite and low key, dinner at home with a movie.  There were the occasional firework, but that isn't anything atypical.  I was even contemplating continuing the tradition of snuggling into bed by 10:30.   Before I called...

Now, my husband would have you believe that his current life is like this: I think this is his, "I'm on the brink of death" look But in all actuality, his life is currently this: And this... And a whole lot of this... Yeah, life might be a little less mobile, but it is still pretty good.

I don't think anyone will be surprised to know that I am having D-O-U-B-T-S about signing up for another year of teaching and living in Ecuador.   Part of the problem is me, I'm a chronic second guesser who always questions decisions I make.  The other part of the problem is it's just that time of year, the crazy "school has got to let up soon or I will go bald pulling out all of my hair" time of year.  Kids are starting to go wild because they can smell the three week vacation that is just around the corner, high school finals start tomorrow (exactly what is a middle school teacher doing writing a senior literature final?  I have no idea what I'm doing here!), report cards are due soon, and I stupidly have assigned major projects/papers/presentations (the curse of the triple p) to be due this week. Not to mention the weather... Oh yes, the rainy season is almost upon us and we all know how well that went for me last year.  By the end of February, the faint so...