Saying good-bye to summer

Today was the last day of my summer vacation (sadly, the boat above is JFK's, not mine). To be fair, it was also the third day of my summer vacation, but three is better than zero. Students came back yesterday, but only sixth and seventh graders - my students will not start school for another eight days - so my principal encouraged me to take some time. I thought I would spend it relaxing and doing some work, but tomorrow I will return my bags to school, having never even opened them. Instead I did things I enjoy. I ran small errands. I bought a handful of new clothes and a pair of purple flats. I spent a morning in Annapolis. I got a haircut. I ate Indian food. I bought flowers at a farmer's market. I watched tv. I talked with my best friend. I slept in. I gave myself a manicure. And I read. I read on the Annapolis city dock, eating pumpkin bread and listening to the bay. I read in my bed, when I would normally be on my way to work, listening as a cool breeze rustled the tree outside our window. I read by the pool, milking every last minute of the freedom that was so wonderfully mine over the last few days.

In between my first day of vacation and my second and third days, Brian and I went to Chicago. We left Friday afternoon and returned on Sunday. Ostensibly, we went home to welcome Rachel back to the States and to celebrate my grandparents' sixtieth wedding anniversary. But we also went home because my grandfather is pretty sick and it was very important to my mom that we have this mini family reunion of sorts. It was really good to see everyone and fun to watch my sisters reunited and clearly still enamored with each other (in this way that only twins can be, I think). And I never pass at a chance to spend time with my grandparents; we are remarkably different people, but they are the most sincere and loving people I know. The visit was hard too. My grandpa has always been quiet, but there is a different aura to his silence now. He carries himself differently, people react differently to him, and more than once I caught him concentrating on his arms, rubbing them as if that could make the bruises go away. This was the first trip in a long time where I had a hard time saying good bye to my parents at the airport and I could not sleep at all our first night back. I'm a little better now, but it's a strange thing, getting older, watching your role models get older still.

Tomorrow, I will dive, headfirst, back into the world of meetings and lesson plans and observations. I will say good-bye to the shorts and flip-flops I love so much and, like so many of my friends have already done, I will go back to school. Summer's really over.