Breaking the Silence – Two Month Recap

Often, silence implies either absence of activity or an overabundance of it. For us, the past two moths has meant the latter.

We have been rather quiet here on DC Minute, but only because we have been wholly absorbed by family priorities and our jobs. As all of you know, testing has taken over in every school district across America, and therefore I have been trying to balance the pressure of high-stakes testing in a low performing school with my personal life. It often bleeds over and I forget that I actually HAVE a life other than “teacher”. Additionally, my time in Middle School is coming to an end, as after a tedious and exhausting job hunt I am moving back into the high school arena this coming year. I can’t wait to work with that age group again, and have already let my mind run wild with ideas for next year.  Scott has been traveling for work, and spent almost a week on the West Coast at the end of April.  Between the two of us, our careers really took center stage the past few months, and blog activities became fewer as a result.

My birthday was at the beginning of April, and after that I became sick for several weeks and completely burned out. I recovered just in time for my brother’s wedding in the Daytona Beach area, and Scott and I left our pups to join the revelry and celebration of two amazing people. It was a wonderful escape from our routine, and spending time with my entire family in Florida was exactly what I needed to recharge.

My handsome brother.

And now, the hardest part of the last two months. My Miah. Anyone who has ever struggled with watching a disease take hold of an animal they consider a best friend can understand the weight that has been plaguing my shoulders. Miah is reaching her final days, and every minute of my time is consumed with thoughts of her impending end. She is drastically going downhill, and in the evenings my hands are occupied stroking her head rather than the keys for a blog post. I don’t sleep anymore, as my nights are spent turning her every hour so she can continue to sleep peacefully and comfortably. I lavish treats, toys, and attention on my dearest girl, never knowing when the last treat will be fed. I had rather hoped that she would make it until we went north for the summer, as losing her would be best when I could be distracted by time on the farm. However, I have no reason to believe she will make it until then, and now have to figure out how to handle losing her here. I can’t even wrap my mind around it, let alone deal with her absence when it actually happens.

On a positive note, Scott and I have been talking at length about our wedding, and how we hope to accomplish a small and intimate day of our dreams. We think we know exactly what we want, but it will take quite a bit of time to turn our dream into reality.  Our initial conversations have been spent around budget and time frame, both of which we will be posting about in the next few days. We welcome your input, and at this time aren’t accepting the “just elope” suggestion :)

We have been eating out, working out, and wandering like tourists in this gorgeous city. Even though we haven’t been posting as regularly as we would like, we are back in action and can’t wait to regale you all of our adventures from the last two months.  In the meantime, make sure to follow along on Instagram and Facebook to catch all the things we are doing.

-Al