The New Year comes along just to end Christmas vacation. Today is New Year’s Eve and a reminder that getting back to school is just a few days away. What has happened to the time? I know I have spent it resting, relaxing, rejuvenating, driving, and chasing Ivy. I know the days have counted for my mental health if not for the other aspects of who I am. I have spent a bit of time (probably too much time) looking through Facebook and added several friends from my childhood home in Sugar Land. Thinking back to that time was fun and I have made a couple of connections I had been wondering about for years.
Our time in Michigan has been spent well or is being spent well. Beth has caught up on a couple of her to dos and had time to read. I have had time to rest and relax and I, too, have caught up on a couple of my ‘to dos’ as well. The kids did get to ski or snowboard our first day here but the weather has been uncooperative. When we arrived, there was snow cover, but as I look out over the yard and across the lake, I see green grass with patches of snow that are melting by the minute. We awoke yesterday morning to icy conditions and drizzle with the temperatures rising into the middle thirties. Today, it was wet and warm with temps in the low forties, but it will all rebound early tomorrow with temperatures dropping back in to the twenties and snow forecast for New Year’s Day. However, the damage is done to the slopes and it is not likely there will be enough snow to make winter spots doable on Sunday. Our next chance will likely be Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend in mid-January and again in February for President’s weekend both of which are three-day weekends. For the time being we must enjoy the time to visit with the Eberly’s and Parkses who are up for the same reason we are; as well as time to spend together as a family.
The New Year reminds me that time moves forward whether I am ready or not. Goethe’s quote that I have enough for the purposes that are most important and it reminds me of the purpose of this blog. I have had time or rather taken it, to re-read a few previous posts recently and am reminded the importance of time and relationships. New Year’s is a time for some to make resolutions or resolve to change and grow. For me the end of the school year is a better ‘new year’ but there are a couple of changes or tweaks I need to implement. I need to get better at grading and giving feedback to my students and I need to get better at managing my stuff. Both were goals at the end of the last school year and I am still struggling with them as the calendar year ends. As I write, there are two days until my kids go back to school, four days until I go back to school, and ninety-three school days remaining with seventy-eight already complete. However, there is always time for what matters most.