The situation with my friend and colleague is much worse than anyone had imagined. She’s going to have surgery followed by four months of off-and-on chemotherapy, and then radiation after that. The doctor says no work for at least a month, and it sounds like I may have these classes more or less for the rest of the school year.
I took a deep breath and opened the folders of lesson plans yesterday. A Modest Proposal and Anna Karenina, which I’d read recently. Paradise Lost and The Importance of Being Earnest, which I’d read when I took AP English a dozen years ago. She Stoops to Conquer and Tess of the D’Urbervilles, which I’ve never read (and now that I’m slogging through both, I can see why.) I suddenly feel like my mother in her most recurring nightmare: it’s the day before the final exam and I’ve forgotten to study.
Plans for this weekend: canceled. New plan: to read and study for the AP English test, so I can bring these kids through it. Oddly, the shock and anxiety of my friend’s illness hasn’t really registered. I just know that this is the best way I can help her now — this, and the most fervent prayers.