The 1st half of school

Today is the first day of summer vacation as school is officially over. I don't think I could have ever imagined the type of year it would be living as a widower and continuing to go to work and do all of the things trying to be a good father to my kids. Reflecting back on these past 9 months at work, I had some highs and lows. The first 4 months, August- November were probably as good a 4 months as I could imagine. I helped established a new school news crew club and was able to develop engaging lessons in my classroom. This was the first time that I started a school year without being a football coach and I think it played a role in helping me focus on my students and developing better lessons. 

Things all changed however, soon after wrestling season started and I had to get back to coaching. The practice time and wrestling tournaments were hard to manage as a single parent. I wanted to be there for the team but I couldn't be because I often left practice early to pick up my kids from school. I gave a lot of coaching responsibilities to my two young assistant coaches. After a month into the season, me and my two assistant coaches had a huge argument and it started to effect my duties as a coach. They felt empowered as coaches because often times I would let them run the wrestling practices as I handled fundraising, schedule, recruiting and parent concerns. 

After our argument, the two coaches decided to quit after our first tournament in December. So the principal and assistant principal had to step in and intervene. We each had a private meeting with the administrators. The end result was allowing the two to return as coaches. The next couple of weeks were awkward because I was forced to work with two coaches that I felt I couldn't trust. I also started to feel different towards my principal, who I felt forced me to work with dudes I don't like or trust. 

This became a very stressful time for me. I began to drink wine on school nights. I also started to get very irritated very easily and mean. In the 3 weeks of school in December, I started missing days of school due to my drinking. During this time my mom and aunt Win became concerned about me. Eventually I decided to take a 6 weeks break from school and to relinquish my head wrestling coaching duties in order to get myself together.