Supporting

I am officially a stay-at-home dad until the end of August. It feels weird, though I suspect it'll really hit me on Monday. I'll be changing a diaper at 9:00 in the morning and realize that my former 3rd period students are in my classroom with a different teacher. That will suck, but perhaps I'll feel giddy too, like a truant.

My cabinet at school is full of toys and junk. I have giant dice, a Yoda pen, about 20 tennis balls, various super balls, a bunch of plastic aliens, and so on. I also have a life-size ceramic unicorn head that these two kids bought me for my birthday last year. They spent one dollar on it at Goodwill, and since that day it has sat atop the cabinet and lorded over the room.

But now it's inside the cabinet.

Every school year plays out like a typical plot structure, with exposition in September when you meet the kids and get everything started, mini-peaks along the way with various challenges to overcome, building steadily to the climax of spring break, and then the falling action weeks until the resolution at the end of the school year. It's always satisfying, but this year I definitely feel like I'm leaving in the middle of the story, like Mercutio or...I don't know, some other character who suddenly finds himself in a supporting role.

It's totally worth it, obviously. It just hasn't hit yet.

Oh, but Lyla welcomed me home by spitting breast milk onto my crotch. So we're getting there.