summer is a coming in

One of the wonderful things about teaching is, of course, summer vacation. In mid-May it feels like summer will never arrive and then there is the amazing rush of early June when it seems I will never get everything done that must be done before the year can end. There are the field days and graduations when I look at the students and think about what they were like 5 years ago when I met them. How tall they've grown, how they look like young men and women instead of kids. There is the sadness of saying goodbye to colleagues who are moving on or retiring. There is the deep appreciation of certain treasured colleagues who stay on. The regret for moments played poorly and pride in those pulled off. I feel moored in a slipstream of time, bobbing up and down on its currents and pulled by the deep tow of my own certain someday voyage on.