The Endless Summer (June theme: Summer Vacation)
Ahh, summer vacation. As a college professor, it was always my
time to dig deep and really write. Classes at my university end about a month
before the schools let out, so when my kids were in school I always had a
luxurious—but finite—amount of time to get a lot done. Knowing my time was
limited, I would sit down and churn out the pages.
But by the end of the summer, I was usually antsy and ready
to get back to work.
The twist this summer is that I resigned my teaching
position as of a month ago. My kids have (mostly) grown up and moved out, so what
stretches ahead of me is an unlimited summer break. I’m losing track of the day
of the week. Along with Maggie Smith’s Dowager Countess Grantham on Downton
Abbey, I might ask, “What is a
weekend?”
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| With the other new emeriti |
And I’m worried that in a few months, I’ll be antsy and
ready to get back to work, but there won’t be work to get back to.
Or is it that I used to get antsy in August because classes
were looming, syllabi were due, book orders were to be checked, and classrooms to
be changed, and I was caught up in the excitement? And now that none of that
will happen, will I be settled into my new routine and will hardly notice that
just down the street, the first-year students are lining up, that someone else
will be teaching the classes I created (okay, I admit to a bit of possessiveness
here), that the office I possessed for twenty-eight years will be filled with
nice new furniture and a new professor?
With—almost—unlimited time at my disposal, will I continue to write at the rate I used to during the summer months, when I knew my time was limited? Will I write better? Worse?
When I quit my sales job after the kids were gone, I had oodles of stuff that I thought I would pour myself into. Something really strange happened, I found that my time had been managed around my job, kids and hubby. This created a strange sense of flux and my days quickly filled with requests from friends and kids. I not only had to teach everyone around me that whileI didn't have a job outside of the the home, I did have a job. The hardest one, of course, to convince was myself. I had to give myself permission to organize my time how I wanted, writing now wasn't a reward for getting all the daily stuff done, it was my job. I'm still in the process of working out the kinks but don't let anyone tell you it's easy. It's a different kind of life and old habits of doing for others is hard to break. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Pam--I'd love a guest post to that effect on my blog!
DeleteI've been full-time writing now for the past eleven years, and I know with absolute certainty that you'll settle into this new life, find your pace, and LOVE it. Take it from an old-timer: once you get in that groove, there's no going back...
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to find that out for myself, Holly!
DeleteVery exciting times for you! Best of luck with everything.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Bob!
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