Last Day of Summer

In many ways, today is the last day of summer for me.  I've turned in my summer grades for the 2 online classes I taught.  Tomorrow I report to Spartanburg Methodist College for workshops and meetings before classes start on Tuesday, August 13.

Both because it's been a good summer and because my fall will be intense, I feel a bit sad to see summer go.  I've had time to volunteer at Lutheridge, which has been a delight.  I've had time to read books for pleasure, always one of my favorite things to do.  I've done a lot of sewing.

I haven't travelled much, and I haven't taken a traditional vacation, and that's fine with me.  Many of the people I've known who have taken vacations and travelled have come home sick.  I am so happy to have the kind of mountain home where most people travel for their summer vacations.  I am still enjoying a summer that isn't so hot.

I've seen lots of family and friends, in a variety of settings.  I went to Arkansas for a wedding at a beautiful state park.  It was good to get back to the campus of the Lutheran seminary in Columbia before it moves, good to see the spiritual direction certificate friends in that setting that shaped us all.  We had our first house guests in this house for Music Week, and it worked out really well--hurrah!  There have been walks and creative times and working on service projects together.

I feel refreshed and energized--and I'm hoping that feeling doesn't evaporate right away.  I know that I will be more enthusiastic about the writing projects I've designed than my students will be.  Hopefully I can keep my enthusiasm up.  No, let me dream bigger.  Let my students be more enthusiastic than I expect them to be.

I've got a heavy teaching load, but it's a subject that I've been teaching for a long, long time, and it hasn't changed much.  If I was teaching Contemporary Politics, I'd need to be changing lesson plans on a daily basis--which would be fun and invigorating in a very different way.

Let me go on one last summer walk.  I'm already seeing changing leaves, but it's much more subtle now than it will be later.