Transitions

We are constantly morphing and sliding into new phases in our lives.  Even when we are in a particular period, people look and work towards the next movement.  I sit here at home, writing my lesson plans for the first day of school tomorrow.  A new beginning of sorts.  One of the beautiful things about working in education is the cyclical nature of the profession.  Just like the seasons, school has a beginning and an end.  Tomorrow begins the new season of learning and working hard to understand and gain insight into concepts.  I look forward to another nine months of working with young, creative minds and learning about what makes them excited and motivated and how they can overcome frustrations. 

Audrey begins a new phase in life as well:  preschool!  It is staggering to imagine my little girl in a school environment with other little children and teachers, but also a welcome point of reflection.  She is excited to interact and become part of a small social network and learn from other people besides her mom and dad!  I am already so proud of her for showing interest and enthusiasm towards her new schedule, and I cannot wait to pick her up tomorrow from her new school and get the rundown of her day and learn about what makes her excited and motivated. 

So, as the sun begins its decent into the West somewhere, we celebrate our new transition into the school year as a family over a big bowl of spaghetti and sauce with garlic bread and chocolate milk to wash it down!  It has been a wonderful, exhilarating, and satisfying summer.  I will keep the memories of walks, and library trips, ice cream, rock throwing, road trips, and laughter in my mind and heart to keep me warm as the world around us begins to cool and slip into colors of brown and orange.   

Falling

Now we return. We fall back into a familiar routine where time carves our daily path through which our lives flow. The rain started falling today, just as I returned to school to prepare my room for students next week.

The once familiar now finds its way back to me: a sweatshirt or light jacket become options in the evening for a dog walk. Long pants feel foreign to my shins, but remind me of colder days to come.

We fall into thinking about our days differently. Now we have tasks and school and work instead of free time and whimsical destinations. We focus our energy on planning and working on the things we can see approaching rather than searching out experiences from moment to moment.

It is not as glum as it sounds. There is comfort in routine and an ability to work hard knowing that windows of time each day are limited. We appreciate our walks and playtime knowing that they are more limited yet still important enough to confiscate precious minutes from our days.

Fall is a time for the Earth to display a beautiful finale of colors and gasps of vibrant life before dropping into a frosty slumber. Following nature's cue, we, too, grasp for those final moments of summer's glory that will sustain us most through the hardening of the ground and chilling of fingertips.

We bid the sun pleasant dreams a little earlier each night now and find ourselves dreaming in beds crowed by a couple more blankets not there a week ago. While we search out our long socks and warm coats for the coming months, we give thanks for the sunburns and bug bites that act as physical reminders that we did indeed seize the day and have now survived the freefall of summer. We now await the full arrival of fall with thoughts of crunchy leaves and evenings of quietness only broken by the final warm, blustery gasps of summer winds.

The Last Day of Summer

The last day of July is the unofficial official last day of summer.  It is the day before the e-mails from school and professional development and general reentry of work into my conscious thought process occurs.  Looking back over this month, my couple posts have been short and lacking any real insight because this blog is part of my "normal" routine, and July is the time that affords me the opportunity to forget temporarily about structure and traditional time usage.  July gives us a time to forget about the day of the week and the time on the clock and enjoy living moment to moment rather than minute to minute:  we eat when hungry, play when inspired, and sleep when tired.  

The days, rather than blocks of time, have become parades of events and experiences.  There is no complex formula to the month of July in terms of how we decide to live.  Rather, we wake-up every morning, and after a dog walk and breakfast, we decide what mood the group is in and attack the day.  July is a time to temporarily do away with one part of my life in order to discover other, more muted areas that also define who I am and who we are as a family.  July provides time to consider the past, both professionally and personally.  It also presents pockets of contemplation about the future and what we need moving forward in our life.  However, all of this will have to readjust tomorrow as the new month and its wave of new routines and responsibilities begins to erode the banks of summer and flow into the ever-changing river of fall.  

This summer has been a sweet time of simple pleasures with my daughters and wife.  We have been lucky enough to have many visits to Indiana to see Grandma Dixie and the rest of the family on that side.  Trips to the parks, zoos, and museums have filled many of our days.  We have also had our share of lazy summer days, too hot to be outside.  In between, playing with the neighbors, taking long walks, and lots of reading and playing take place every day.  

August first is an exciting time in our schedules, as it represents continued growth and evolution as a family.  We all look forward to the changing of the leaves, Audrey beginning preschool, and Violet doing whatever comes next in her life.  While the overall tone of this post feels glum, it is meant only to emphasize how deeply our time together is treasured each summer.  As mentioned earlier, it is healthy to forget about parts of ones' life to rediscover other areas.  However, it is also refreshing to remember again the parts of life that provide structure and overall support of our family.  

Goodbye summer.  We will always remember you, and await your return next year when we are ready to forget again.

-a