Some days – the days when it all seems hopeless – all one can do is try to reach out somehow.

Today is one of those days. In forty minutes my first student of the afternoon arrives and I have to hide away my own aching and fear and replace it with an unstinting faith in that student’s talent and ability. The truth is, right now, I have no faith in my own.

I long for a teacher myself. I long for someone who will tell me that it will be all right and that some day soon the clouds will lift and I’ll be able to see the path forward.

Until that happens I’m going to take refuge in the comforts of a jam sandwich and a cup of tea, praying that the neighbours will move their car out of my driveway and the students I’m seeing this evening won’t ask me to move mountains when I can only just lift my head off the pillow.