Recharging

I've had a rough last couple of weeks.  On the 10th, while at work I found out that one of the teachers I used to team teach with had lost her battle with cancer and it was her funeral.  I knew she was sick, I just didn't realize she was death bed sick.  On the 13th a friend's baby was admitted through emergency to the hospital.  (Ended up being diagnosed with two holes in her heart.)  On the 14th was the funeral of the next door neighbor (childhood) who had died of cancer.  And on the 16th I found out another person I used to work with had also died of cancer.  It was too much.

I slogged through the day, only to stop by my Principal's office at the end of the day to touch base with her.  It was there that when I tried to express how I was struggling, I cried.  Poor Deb.  She sat there patting my back.  She offered to give me the following day off.  I went home, crawled into bed and snuggled with my dogs.  After a nap, I loaded my very patient pups and drove to the grazing reserve.  It was there that I walked.  I watched the dogs race so joyously across the fields, splashing in the water, zooming and zipping.  Hearing the birds, the panting of the dogs, I could feel the stress and sorrow drain from my body.  I thought about these people who were gone and said my goodbyes.

On the drive home with my soggy, stinky dogs, I knew I would be okay.  That I would shake this off.

There is something about reconnecting with nature that recharges my batteries.