Today I was  reminded that I have… a blog! One of the students I work with remembers me mentioning this blog way back-long-ago. It comes as a surprise to me that my young students DO listen and retain the oddest things. I know I’m still very young myself, but it often feels like they’re getting younger when they throw in a “Ms. Claudia, don’t you remember from last week?”

No. I do not. My head is full of work. I keep it moving, forward, forward.

I’ve been meaning to write earlier. I would’ve said something like: this has been the hardest year of my life.

But I haven’t lived long enough to make the judgement. It is, though, December 1st. This means I’ve made it another year and it has been incredible.

Over the summer, my mother visited my sister in El Salvador. My mother went out of the country for the first time since 2001. It wasn’t a long trip and I wasn’t able to go with her, but her joy is my joy.

Out of the blue–no joke–in September, my family grew! I now share my days with an uncle and little cousin. He is learning English and I’m overseeing his language acquisition–and I’m doing a pretty decent job might I add.

I’ve also had the pleasure of writing weekly poems this semester… and I have one due tomorrow! And so, I keep myself moving.