And we’re off…

It's warm today. The house guests have left and the husband has begun the first of four ten hour days to make up for the mandatory vacation that is Memorial Day. I spent all of last week out of town and so today feels like the first real day of my summer. I have a list of projects that I probably won't be able to complete, but I'll make a dent. I'll make plans and accomplish things and even work on school stuff so when the semester starts again in the fall, I'll be ready to go with my ambitious ideas and grand schemes – some of which will actually come to fruition. I've always thought it was funny that people see the summer off as a perk to teaching. It is, in a lot of ways, but it is also (at least for me) absolutely necessary. I probably work 80 hours a week during the school year and there is never a time when I don't have things to grade and plans to work on. If I had to do all of that during the summer, I think I would probably burst. Or, more likely, collapse into a puddle of goo. I know very few teachers who actually take the summer off completely, anyway. Sure, we have more control over our time, but most teachers I know are working on the next round, recuperating their health, spending time with their children and families, and some even take jobs to help supplement the income they are no longer making. It almost has a New Year's feeling to it – a new semester is a fresh start and the summer is a way to get ready for that start in every possible way.

So, what am I doing with my newly structured freer time and its warm days and sunny skies? This is my list…

Viet Nam Album PowerPoint
Clean attic
Clean basement
Clean house
Read many books
Family Tree
Learn Tarot
Landscape front gardens
Fix / remove back trellis
Install mailbox
Clean and treat the hardwood floors
Finish painting in kitchen
Credit card adjustment
Redesign Eng 101 and Eng 102 online
Weed
Move filing to basement

I'm sure there are countless others I haven't thought of yet…but we will see how I do with this. Along with these projects, I also plan on spending time with friends, going camping, going on a getaway or two, hitting many garage sales, going shopping with my sister, planning a certain special party, and otherwise enjoying the time. So, I get summers off, but it's just giving me time to do all the things I never have time to do during the school year and it gives me time to decompress and get my energy back so that when fall comes around again, I have what it takes to give it my all for 10 months.

It's a strange set up, really…but I like it.