Just Around the Corner

Every time I mount the BV these days it's with a heavy sigh that starts in my toes and hisses through my lips like steam being released from some behemoth of a locomotive.  It's mid August and this summer vacation that I'd anticipated gleefully in May is slowing down and easing toward a sure end.  If you can remember what it felt like when you were a kid to be staring down at your last few days of delicious freedom, well - it's just like that on the other side of the big desk too.  I love teaching and just about everything about it, but there's that bumper sticker that I saw on a neighbor's car years ago that makes too much sense.  "A bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work."  I look forward to that time in my life when I can hang a "Gone Fishing" sign and leave it up all the time even as I know that it'll break my heart when some September rolls around and I won't be heading back to a classroom.

I make no apologies that my summers are typically lazy ones.  By the time the final bell rings on an academic year I need to be rejuvenated in a way that a week at the shore wouldn't begin to provide.  I don't look for a summer job.  I don't do any personal coursework.  I enter summer vacation without a plan, without a goal, without a great big where I want to be when it's all over.  Each day is its own and whether I venture far from this chair or not, in its own way each day is an adventure.

The scooter is like an alter ego to me in some ways.  It hasn't the pretense of being more than it is.  It's humble, but sure and steady.  There is no "Vrrrrrrrrroooooooooooom!" but more of a purr.  There's no, "Look at me!" - just a seeming smile as I ride by and you catch my headlight or my eye.  The scooter really enjoys its summers, and I do too.

I'm noticing leaves falling in many places and I don't remember if this is normal for this time of year or if it's some indication that an early fall is on the horizon in spite of the late summer.  Either way, the leaves on the ground are the perfect backdrop for a resigned return to school.  I have about a week and a half left.  I'm taking one more out of town weekend vacation in a few days and then it will be back to business until the forsythia in the backyard gets yellow again and my heart once more gears itself up for another summer.