The Dream

The night before the commencement of each school year thousands of teachers experience "the dream". It's a dream that's not shared by those in any other profession.

Today is the first day of school for a lot of California children, teachers and para-professionals. There was a lot of dreaming last night. It was all about "the dream".

There are two common threads in "the dream":

You've overslept, still in bed and the phone rings. It's the principal. Your classroom is filled with kids and you're not there. There are several variations on this dream.

Or, you've forgotten to put on clothes and appear before your class in various stages of nakedness.

Or, you're working with a tough group of kids and you're not liking it.

I'm sure there are other dreams about the first day of school that teachers have. What's written here are common ones that have been shared over the years.

I taught for only a short period of time before working in administration. Even though I changed roles the dream still visited me the night before the first day of school. And interestingly, I had "the dream" again last night even though it's been a year since the last assignment. Wasn't naked in front of kids. Didn't oversleep. But "the dream" was about my working with a tough group of kids. It wasn't fun.

I'm looking forward to dreaming about something different tonight....anything but school and kids. Please!

Wifey and I are readying to go sailing first thing this morning. I can't think of anything more fitting on the first day of school than being on a boat with its sails full of wind, heeled way over, blasting down the lake with the rails touching the water. And there will be Bob: sandwich or beer or maybe Wifey in one hand, wheel in the other.

Playing hooky today is going to be very enjoyable.