August 24, 2014 Photo (236/365): "Butterfly"
"The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough." - Rabindranath Tagore
How strange it is to feel this way on the last night of "summer vacation"! School starts tomorrow and I should be feeling nostalgic, apprehensive, and melancholy; yet curiously, this final Sunday summer evening feels...normal. It must be because, for the first time in 43 years, I'm neither taking nor teaching classes. I'm working in an academic environment without the usual academic calendar. Only two weeks passed this summer when I didn't work on campus: the week of the 4th of July and our week in California (when, although I didn't work on campus, I did work at Google). So, voilà, it appears as though I've finally entered the "real world." Therefore, I will look back on the summer of 2014 not as a student or a teacher, but as a butterfly. I can't count the months, but I can count the moments this summer:
Mornings in my garden, enjoying coffee with my flowers
A few lunch dates with my mom or with friends
Taking time to read for pleasure
Occasionally working on the deck rather than at my desk
"Auntie" Camp and Apple Camp with my nephews
Sailing and watching fireworks on our boat
A long weekend with Eric in Wine Country
Late evenings grilling out, sipping wine, listening to music
Watching the sunset, the stars, and the meteor showers
It may not have been a typical 2-month break from school, but maybe these summer moments were time enough.