What I Did On My Summer Vacation

This is always the first thing that I get my students to talk about when we return to school. I always preface it by saying "Now don't just say, 'I did nothing'. I know that you had to have done something". Well, if you were to ask me what I did on my summer vacation, my answer would seem to be "nothing", I didn't go anywhere, except for two weekends away with extended family. For most of the summer, Blair worked and I stayed home with Nicholas, Claire and Emily. We played in the pool and sprinkler in the back yard, had a few play dates with friends, we went to the Fort Langley Outdoor Pool a handful of times when July was really hot and went to the zoo once.

It was great! As I wrote in a previous post, I was burnt out from the school year and really needed time to relax, reconnect and rejuvenate. And that's exactly what I did. This was the best summer that I've had in a long time. I loved getting up in the morning to the sun instead of an alarm, enjoying a cup of coffee without it being in a travel mug and having it taste stale by the time I got around to drinking it, spending the days with my kids outside or baking with them, reading with them, just being "Mommy", drinking wine at night with Blair because I enjoy a glass of wine, not because I needed to "de-stress" from my day spent amongst thirty hormonal pre-teens.

During quiet time, I started to do something that I haven't done in years, and I do mean years....I started writing again. There was a period of my life when I wrote, and wrote, all the time. I have a chest full of coil ring books full of my writing because I had so many stories and characters waiting to be written. It was something that I loved to do, but it got lost along the way with the busy-ness of life that comes with being a working mom. I got to re-ignite that part of me and this summer I was writing two to three hours a day. It was my "me" time. Something that I had forgotten I needed to do....give myself time to "just be me".

I even joined an on-line fitness challenge group where exercises were emailed to me each day. Thirty days of taking thirty minutes to do exercise to help me get my body back into shape, something I've let fall to the wayside, much like my writing. It was hard work, but I always felt better after doing it. I hope to continue to do some form of exercise, but I know it will have to be "scheduled in" or it won't get done.

Now, as I prepare to go back to work and organize the busy-ness of back to school, I am grieving a bit for the end of summer and what I've had the time to do and what I've found. I'm going to try very hard to carve out time to do something that I love to do every day.So, if my students ask me, "Mrs. King, what did you do on summer vacation?",  I spent time doing things that I love with the people that I love. I had the best summer ever!

I Love Summer

It's two weeks until summer holidays end and I return to work. It seems that the summer, August especially, has gone by so fast, days melting into each other, and time goes by more quickly with each passing week. I have loved this summer and never needed it more than after this past school year.

It was a hard and stress filled school year with parents and students who wanted more from me than any reasonable teacher could or would be willing to give. I was at a new school, with new staff and different rules and expectations that I was trying to learn, while at the same time juggling working three days a week, with three children, a full time working husband and all the extra things that go along with being a working mom. I was exhausted and never more glad to see the end of that school year and the start of summer.

We didn't go anywhere spectacular or anything, in fact we only went away for two weekends this entire summer, but I was able to stay home with my children, play with them, bake with them, take them swimming and just be "Mommy". Now that's not to say that there weren't times when the endless energy of these three little people didn't wear on me and I didn't wish for that "Calgon" moment, or question myself and Blair's sanity in creating these little wonders, there were many times, but I was able to enjoy the beautiful weather and read some books, do some creative writing (which I haven't done in many years) without any external expectations or stresses. I often posted on Twitter, "I Love Summer" and I did, I think more than I have ever enjoyed a summer before.

As I continue to enjoy these last couple of weeks, reality is beginning to set in and I find myself thinking and preparing for the school year. This year, I will be working four days a week, with Fridays off. This gives me a bit more autonomy in what and how I'm going to teach and allows me to contribute more substantially to our family income. It will be a good thing, I keep telling myself, although, I'm not quite sure that I'm convinced. (to be continued...)

Right now, I'm trying to squeeze out every last best drop of summer holiday that I can before going back to work. Did I mention that I LOVE SUMMER? :)