Wow, this is really nice. I did not plan to come back and post much tonight, but it's a (good) habit that is easy to fall back into.
Eric/E.T.
You made some good points about the definition of art, but that's one of those can of worms topics I think we've all had too much of. Then getting in a tiff with our beloved Sandy (by far the kindest and most good-natured of all of us) didn't do you any favors. But please don't let one dust-up drive you away. In a very short time, you've become a valuable contributor to this community, and your presence is missed.
This definitely makes me feel happy and a bit sentimental. Sometimes, I can't read the room, and it's on me to be better at that. Or just to step back before things get too deep. Anyway, I'm moving forward, don't want to relitigate the past, honestly don't have the reserves right now to rehash a conversation that just didn't go well. You all are great people, about 24 hours after I "left", I knew that isn't what I wanted to do, but I needed a break to let things simmer down.
I'm nervous about going too far into current life experiences, because I don't want to seem like I'm fishing for sympathy. I have to have some hard conversations with the boss about where I'm at mentally/emotionally. I'm great in the classroom, but a wreck outside of it. I've been looking at potential life changes, including going back to school to change careers (counseling or a Ph. D in Education and a shift to working in academia are leading the pack), and moving back to Michigan to be closer to my family, where cousins I'm quite close with are having babies, and whenever I'm there with them I feel 100% better than I do here, alone. My dad not being here right now isn't helping, but it shouldn't be his job to make sure I'm stable enough to push through the next day. I turn 40 in January, and I have been self-sufficient since I was 18, so, c'mon. Anyway, that's the shit I was going through while I was failing to measure my words and make polite arguments here. So, like, thanks for not banning or exiling me. I hope I can be a net-positive here going forward, as you all individually and collectively are so good to me and for me.