Well... that was a school year

The school year is finished. It was one I shall not forget for a long time, try as I may.

Within the first two weeks of the school year masks were re-mandated, I was placed on a 10-day close-contact quarantine, and a province-wide vax mandate was announced. I thought I was done.

By October school divisions joined in the fun of the province vax mandate. My own division announced that unvaccinated teachers were to pay for weekly testing, or be, ahem, removed from their positions. Stay safe everybody.

The day they announced this was the same day my wife made another announcement. That is, she told me she was pregnant. That was, uh, a little overwhelming.

Other tidbits followed this, such as Trudeau stating he wanted to deny EI payments to unvaccinated people, or that my bishop said he would not lift one finger to help unvaccinated Catholics - the same day he had a letter begging for money for his annual appeal.

In December I took the plunge and took a one-month unpaid sabbatical from work. During the time I wrote a book (Disconnected: The Broken Path), and was able to, thanks to Bishop Athanasius Schneider, negotiate returning to work without paying for weekly COVID-testing. I wasn't happy about this, but it was the best I could do.

January had me placed on another 10-day quarantine (cause everyone had COVID then, but you know, get the vaccine and all). Then the truckers came to the rescue. Tey are the reason Saskatchewan's premier announced the end of the vaccine mandate, as well as the mask-mandate.

Life returned to normal at the end of February. At least normal in the sense of undergoing a near-death-experience and having to pretend like nothing happened.

My book was released in March. April and May were busy blurs. June was even a bigger blur, but added to it was the arrival of Mr. Benedict Jean Millette to our family. His name means blessing. And throughout the past year of turmoil, it is evident that he is a blessing. But then the obvious point must be made: Could a baby be anything otherwise?

I have not even mentioned the war in Ukraine, inflation, or the situation in the Church during this time (including another run-in with our bishop). Needless to say, it all adds up.

Yet, the students are gone. A good group, really. They struggle with modern problems. Particularly with technology. Nevertheless, I did my best, so too they, and I think they enjoyed the year. At least since February. I wish them well. And now I am about to walk out these doors for a much needed reprieve. No doubt the fall will be more of the same (or worse). Yet there is truth to the words of St. James: "Consider it pure joy, brethren, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance" (James 1:2-3). 

Pure joy? I'm working on that. Many subtle blessings? 100% true!