You see, it has been raining in Madison pretty much non-stop since early Saturday morning (when I left the bar, it was not raining; when I got home, I looked like a pool guy with bad balance). The temperature has also become more temperate; as I write this, it is sixty-five degrees with drizzle outside. This change in the weather patterns has triggered an almost unconcious reaction in me.
It is telling me to meet with my advisor to hammer out TA details...it is telling me to get my office in order and review the texts for class...it is telling me to finish registering so that my refund check will appear and I can stop foraging...it is telling me, really, that the wheel has come around another rotation and that it is time to start another year.
I always have mixed feelings about this. I hate the summer weather, but like the feeling summer has - open and seemingly endless. I like the months spreading out before me, although I am used to the clausterphobia that schedules bring as well as any person in the modern, industrialized world.
I always look forward to school starting again (yes, I was always one of those sorts of kids...bored with summer by about the end of July). I also realize that, in my almost thirty years in this mortal coil, I have only not been in school for seven academic years (1977/1978-1981-1982 and 1999/2000-2001-2002). It is my life, my passion and I cannot wait to be a part of it again. Still...
There is a part of me that always misses the catch-as-catch-can feel of summer...the being able to, at the drop of a hat, drink beer, go to a ball game, sit by the lake and stare at the sailboats and the diaphenous haze over the surface of the water. Who wouldn't miss that?
This time of transition has always contained another milestone for me, my birthday. While I will comment at more length on my thirtieth birthday, suffice to say that this is more wrapped up than usual in my feelings at present.
So, as these last days of August give waay to September, I look back on a summer of some fun, some frustration, some accomplishment and some shortfall and, all in all, cannot wait for the coming storm. What can I say? I am a glutton for punishment.
Though this is undoubtely true, I will carry those happy moments of summer with me somehow, those last fading streaks of sunlight over the placid water.
These are the things that sustain us.
6 comments:
I most certainly agree with you - the wide open possibilities and activities for summer, and then WHAMO, ready to call it quits already in July.
Last year at this time, I was pretty nervous about KJ starting preschool. Next Monday is his first day of the year, and I'm thrilled. And so is he. I know now that he loves school, and that he interacts as he needs to, and runs of some of that craaazy energy. Now if we could only find a full-day preschool, wink-wink.
I hope your academic year goes well. And turning thirty? I'm almost exactly a year behind you. :o)
hi ~ I had read your comment on Lost a socks blog(my friend) about your neighbors getting the boot. Just wondering if you live by Badger bowl off of Rimrock???? :-)
We used to live in Madison and we are now in Appleton.
Before my husband and I were married (ashamed to say this) we lived In the appartments just south of Badger bowl on Rimrock.
Not the best place in the world to live, but it was close to work for me (REM WI Inc.) I believe the duplexes across the street from the Appartments were setion 8. There seemed to be people moving in a nd out all the time. Maybe some drug trafficing, who knows.
Anyhow - GO Badgers! Are you a basketball fan? We're friends with Brian Butch and his family!
I still feel that way about summer, even though I've long been out of academia. I miss academia terribly, and hopefully I'll get to go back soon. It seems though, that summer is the slow season for alot of things, be they work or otherwise. One part of me misses it as well - things being less busy, being able to lounge a little. But then again, getting in the thick of it all makes you appreciate the summer more.
I always end up regretting things though - mostly that I didn't spend enough time outside, that I didn't ride my bike at all this year, all that kinda stuff. In the long run though (I'm just trailing behind you in that thirty marker), I've still hopefully got more than half a lifetime to make up for it. I just hope I don't get too distracted.
It's never easy to leave school, but I suppose that you never have to now. . . 1999/2000-2001-2002 Was quite a good time indeed. It sounds as though Wisconsin needs you Mr. Shannon, and your free time as well. I shall make the trek up sometime soon. Peace be with you. . .
Sixty-five degrees AND drizzle? Some people have all the luck.
The low temperature hasn't plunged past 70 in a long, long time. Summer's leaving us? Thankfully, I have friends in the northern tier of the country who can verify this for me.
Wish that I could steal away for a couple of days around 9-9. I haven't sat in a BW3's and quaffed several pints of rich, dark ale since, well, MY 30th birthday. Good luck with the start of the school year. Do us a favor and don't disappear like you did last semester. :D
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