It's November - How did that happen so fast?

So here we make a jump from the start of school in September to the end of the first quarter in early November. How is it that time just flies by without so much as a "hello!"? Everyone, and I mean kids as well as adults, feel stressed and tired from what seems to be faster time. Why is it? What's so different about this year that makes us all feel like those rats running endlessly around and around on those wheels in their cages? I don't think I'm being cynical - odds are in my favor that if you're reading this, you can relate to these thoughts. Am I right?

WhatI force myself to try to remember is not that I'm that endlessly running rat (although I feel like that a lot) but that there are many choices I can make each and every day that can make a difference in the quality of my life. With the exception of a calamitous event like a huge earthquake or massive hurricane, we aren't victims of Life. It's that lemonade analogy - we can choose to see things as half empty or half full. I choose half full.