My Summer Vacation

The end is a matter of hours away.  I know I've said I love beginnings, so I'm sure I will be excited once I walk into my classrooms tomorrow.  However, that doesn't mean I like the fact that summer is over.  This was a particularly good one for a couple of reasons.  First, I'm a college professor which means I'm not on contract, but typically, that doesn't mean much for me.  This year, I took it more seriously, doing next to nothing for work.  Second, I stepped back from my lists and goals and just lived a lot.  I had so much fun.

Now, of course with the end about to smack me upside the head, I feel guilty. I didn't do enough. I revised my goals too far in the other direction, and now I'll never get it all done.  Doesn't matter that many items on my to do list are arbitrarily placed there by me.  I still feel like I failed.

In order to keep the guilt at bay, I had to create one more list—what I did on my summer vacation. I started working chronologically, and stopped at ten because it was a nice number.

1.       I taught a summer class.
2.       I wrote a novel.
3.       I continued to query my first novel, and while I'm pretty sure it's now retired, I gave it a good long go.
4.       I read about 15 books.
5.       I wrote a chapter proposal.
6.       I took my kids to two dance nationals.
7.       I researched and selected a new dance studio for the girls.
8.       My girls and I played hard, visiting pools, friends, museums, and zoos.
9.       I planned a surprise trip for my husband to the Cayman Islands, where he celebrated his 40^th birthday early with a Discover Scuba course.
10.   I cleaned out closets and cubbyholes all through the house in a massive de-clutter attempt.

Okay, so I'm not setting any records here, but putting this down on paper, I can definitely see that my love for this summer is not unwarranted.  Despite scaling back, I still accomplished a respectable amount.  At the end of the day, though, I'm most proud of #8 and #9.  And they are the reasons I decided to revise my list in the first place, so I guess I did something right. 

Happy First Day of School!