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April 24, 2008
On the Homestretch
The end is in sight and, I think, reachable with a minimum of agony.
I've noticed this about my life before. Things are crazycrazycrazy and then all of a sudden, I'm in a little island of calm. Beautiful, unexpected and highly welcome.
It's not that I don't still have huge numbers of things to do, a sonnet to recite at a senior dance recital tomorrow, papers to grade (and projects, as they come), lines to work for a final directing scene. I also have a yard to whip into shape and various other projects to work on. BUT, I don't have any more outside-of-class-yet-still-required-for-class activities. Last night's viewing of The Wall was the last of those for the semester. So except for the grading frenzy of next week when I have to grade 30 portfolios in 24 hours and the two plays I must see (Urinetown this weekend and Doubt next weekend, I think, rather than trying to squash them all together), my evenings will be pretty much my own. Because I should be able to get all of the grading done within business hours. And I have only four more class periods for which I need to create lesson plans.
I honestly had begun to wonder if I would ever see this day. The one where the insane workload finally lifted. The fact that it's very close to the longed for day when at last the daffodils bloomed (in the same week, actually), tells you something about the gloomy grey cloud I've been steering under for most of the semester.
This afternoon, for the first time in ages, I sat down to read with lunch and picked, not papers or something I have to have ready for class, but a memoir that I chose from my bookshelf because I was interested in it. And I read the entire thing in one sitting. This afternoon. Without worrying about whether I had other things to do. Or how it was taking up time that really needed to be spent on more important activities. I read. I relaxed. I enjoyed it. I was afraid I'd forgotten how to do that.
Maybe sometime next week I'll feel free enough to pick up my journal again. There just hasn't been time for it lately, I've been too busy snatching sleep when I can get it or just practicing escapism after my insanely long days. And after I'm writing regularly in the journal, and the last few bits of grading are done, and the yard cleanup is well underway, maybe I'll be able to start doing art again.
Less than two weeks.
And counting.
Posted by sally at April 24, 2008 04:56 PM
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