Running Downhill with Sore Knees

We’ve reached that point of the school year where things are busy beyond measure.  Each week in April there’s been at least one after-school event, most in the evening.  The teachers are starting to feel weary, consulting our planning books and realizing that time is fleeting and there are still lessons we wish to teach.  Thanks to the mild weather and Spring blooms, the students have more energy than ever and holding attention in class requires class activities more inspiring than usual. 

I spend my days working through an increasingly long to-do list and then gratefully slipping on flip flops at the end of the school day, a little treat to remind me that these busy days will soon enough be replaced by the relaxation of Summer.

My boss jokes that April and May feel like we’re “running downhill with sore knees” and I think of that when I slip into bed each evening, weary of the day and working like mad to turn off the to-do list that whirs in my brain.  Mornings come faster than I would like, though the chirping birds never fail to make me smile.  The days fly by and my to-do list seems to grow longer.

This year, I keep thinking about last Spring, which seemed to fly by at light speed as I prepared to watch JT graduate and head away to college.  This year’s Spring days feel less frantic and have helped me to see that last Spring I was sometimes so anxious about the coming change that I forget to enjoy and live in the moment.  This year feels different: I made the transition to having a son who lives away from home, T is preparing to move in; my boy is coming home from his first year of college next month.  The summer stretches before me without fear of change.  I’m grateful for the difference.