Confide, And I'll Be On Your Side

You know I will.

Today really could not be classified as a good day. My first round of state testing with my new school, and I did all of MY preparation and organization and coordination. I thought we were ready. Unfortunately, many members of my staff did not do their preparation, etc, and things went slightly awry. Quickly. In the middle of high-stakes testing. Which, simply because of the nature of the system, ends up reflecting poorly on ME. In the middle of all of this, which was making me fairly bug-eyed and looney to begin with, my buddy with autism has a major aggressive incident, and bites one of his staff hard enough to draw blood. Insult to injury, so to speak. In the long run, it wasn't as bad as it seemed in the moment; I think my intense panic was due to the fact that this is the first year I'm organizing this in this new building, and I so wanted it to go well. Such is life. And my buddy, well, it turns out he likely has an ear infection, and was behaving badly because he was ill. But still, during the course of the morning, I was in a pretty bad state.

And as much as I want to sit and moan and beg for sympathy about my lousy day, my struggles are largely the mundane ones of normal adult life. At least, I think standardized testing mishaps and tantrums by boys with autism are mundane. Before I start feeling overly sorry for myself, I try to think about my friends who are really struggling right now, with things they can't leave at the door at the end of the work day. I'm lucky in that respect, and I'm lucky to have them as well. Good days, bad days, uncertainty aside, they make my life better in so many wonderful ways. I'm blessed to have them around, even on our very worst days, in our very worst moments. It's what we do for each other that matters.

So, this song is for them. They know who they are. Know that even in the midst of my most hair-pulling stressed out moments, they are never, ever far from my thoughts, or far from my heart.

My Friends - Red Hot Chili Peppers

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