When the buzzards start circling, it’s a pretty good sign to get up and show some signs of life.  I’m not referring to colleagues trying to take over my job.  (Like they would want it.)  I’m being literal.  Pneumonia-stricken Shelley and I were catching sunbeams on the Café Maywood porch one balmy day this past week when dark shadows circled lazily over our closed eyelids.

Buzzards.

Yes.  They were circling over us, waiting for all signs of life to disappear.  When I got up from my seat, they flew off to find something more dead than we.

It’s time.  Daughter Julie has finished her maternity leave.  My mother has gone off to Italy.  Shelley’s antibiotics are working their magic.  And the doctor handed me my hip-replacement airport identification card.

Ding! I am now free to roam the country.

Spring is popping.  Bees are buzzing.  Hibernation is over.  Even if Monday’s forecast does call for flurries, the sap is flowing.  It’s time to get to work.

From my musically educated readers, can I hear a nice, clear toned sol…do…?  Heigh-ho????   I’m feeling a little conflicted.  There is a little dwarf for every one of my moods.  Dopey, Sleepy, Grumpy, Happy, Sneezy, Bashful, and Doc.

Let’s start with Sleepy, because even though weeks of recuperation have been restful, my body will never, ever like the sound of the alarm at 5:30 a.m.  Which leads, naturally, to Grumpy, who will get grumpier after re-entering the world of school politics and drama.  (Emails were much more entertaining.)  Then there’s Dopey.  In addition to the early morning wake-up, I have completely un-learned how to multi-task.  And  there’s that little matter of the new copy machines that went in the week before I left.  I’m going to look like a complete idiot.

I’m prepared for Sneezy.  Weeks at home away from hundreds of germ-carrying teenagers have left me susceptible.  I have stocked up on Airborne and return to school with immune system fortified.  (I hope.)  But Bashful?  Oh yes.  It’s wonderful to be missed, and there’s nothing so gratifying as a good “Thank God you’re back!”  It’s just a little awkward to be fussed over.  Can I just ease back inconspicuously? Maybe?

Finally, there’s Happy and Doc.  I’m really am happy to return to my little world.  I love what I do.  And, in spite of a most incredible team filling the gap in my absence, there will be plenty to do to remedy the students who were limping along until my return.  Still…sigh… there’s a lot to be said for being Sleeping Beauty.  That is, until the buzzards start circling.