Ready for work!

Yesterday, my daily calendar quote read:

A good rest is half the work. ~Proverb

I have just had a very restful summer. I had plenty of time to rest and sleep in and really do pretty much whatever I wanted. It was great. For maybe one of the first times, my family didn’t undertake a huge home improvement project and we didn’t make plans for a long trip. (Although I should mention that I DID talk my husband out of starting a big project late in the afternoon of our last day of break!) We did a few smaller landscaping and maintenance projects and basically just enjoyed being home and spending time with each other.

Yesterday was my last day of vacation; it was a gloomy, cold day. We had no Labor Day picnic to attend or to host. There was no exciting project to wrap up or and I spent most of the day agitated about the things that I didn’t quite get to, the large number of unproductive days and simply the fact that summer was over and another year had passed all too quickly. I was grumpy and frustrated and anxious about the “could have beens” and the “need tos” that were surfacing and resurfacing in my mind all day (and most of the night). That quote helped me feel only somewhat better…

Today brought Opening Day for teachers, a day when the entire faculty meets together in the High School Auditorium to kick off the year. I found myself looking forward to it and happy to be a part of a large group of enthusiastic educators. There was a lot to be done, decisions to be made, meetings to attend, and relationships to forge. We have all worked hard to ready our classrooms and our plans for the students’ first day tomorrow. The feeling of anxious anticipation was palpable in the hallways. We have to wait out the hours before the halls fill with children. Tomorrow starts a new year full of work, unknown faces, behaviors, challenges and blessings.

I am looking forward to the work, the routine, the structure and the feelings of normalcy that these things will provide. I am thankful to have had an unstructured summer to rest and relax. I feel ready for the work ahead of me. I hope that you, my fellow educators, and parents are feeling optimistic, and rested. I hope you have had a full enjoyable summer, doing the work of resting as we now head into a new year.