june june june june

June spells an end to the weekly school routine for children, which spells an end to the wake-up-and-hurry routine of sheep-dogging kids through breakfast. Each morning we three luxuriate while Scott finishes another two or three days of his own school.

And my school deadline-schedule is... OVER. I'm still scratching my head over it: I'm DONE? Okay, I still need to read three books (Uwek Akpan's Say You're One of Them, Shusako Endo's Silence, and Some Fabulous NonFiction Read yet to be named). Okay, I also need to construct a craft lecture for my final residency, and I need to read an essay out-loud in 90 degree heat, in a room full of people I enjoy, and the reading will scare me to death because I will sweat gallons. One of my former classmates grabbed the podium like it was the handlebars of a motorcycle, taking off into the story with everyone in tow, and I hope to do the same, not to melt or weep or become a master thespian. All of these are possible. But whatever happens I will graduate in five weeks or so in the glorious heat of Santa Fe.

So I enter this summer differently: I don't need to fight for time to myself, to get school-work done, for the first time in two years. I WILL need to develop a routine of writing, a daily rhythm. But not yet. For now I am weary far beyond bodily weariness-- I've been pushing so very hard, and worrying so much about the future, about money, housing, and the job I want.

I'm repairing household stuff, cleaning up from this past few years of house-neglect. I'm deeply paying attention to these beautiful children. I love their ages, their sensitivities at this age. I love the summer-break honeymoon, for now, and I expect their happy state to last another week or so. We're putting together menus, shopping lists, lists of chores and repairs and garden work. We're making sure every car has a copy of the tide chart, and a bag of bathing suits, and a frisbee.

Little notes: I took a job spinning yarn, for a few hundred dollars and a few hours of work. I'll post pictures.




My magazine job ended unceremoniously on Monday-- which gives me an opportunity to overhaul my schedule and my messy time involvement on the internet. I hope to write more regularly for my blog (yay!) and to limit my time on Facebook and Ravelry, two wonderful time-wasters.

If I could choose any work for the fall, I'd teach a couple sections of Gordon's Great Conversations, but for now the school is under a hiring freeze. And I'd freelance, and write. And revise mightily, which seems to be the real work ahead of me.

I can't face writing a CV today, the only likely quiet day of my week. I'm trying to think how to encapsulate the past decade on a piece of paper that explains why I'm qualified to teach this course, even though I'm confident that I'm perfect for the job. Meanwhile I'm headed to Newburyport's Loom and Shuttle weaving shop, on the way to pick up my family at Canoby Lake Park.

Talk more soon. Happy June.