I have summers off. It’s a perk of my teaching gig. Actually, I only show up for work 186 days a year. I know it sounds real nice, doesn’t it? Well, for the most part it is. Great in fact. I mean, I can’t complain.
I always start the summer off strong. In June, as the school year wraps up and I turn in my report cards, I think of the weeks ahead of me. There is a glimmering emptiness in my calendar and I am giddy with possibilities.
This summer I was especially looking forward to the time off. After three years of working full time and going to graduate school part time, I was finally done. This May I graduated from Fordham University with a master’s degree in literacy education and about $20,000 in loans. I skipped the actual graduation ceremony in lieu of a party at a bar where all my friends wore buttons of me in a graduation cap staring off into the bright future with a misty look on my face. My boyfriend even helped edit the picture. The sun flare and sepia tone really add to the dreaminess of it all. (Thanks, Babe.) Yes, a master’s degree is the only real way to secure a raise in the teaching world. My master’s gave me a one-time bump of $500. The future's so bright…blah blah blab la blah.
Anyway, as summer kicks off I always have lots of ambition. I’ve got plans. Big plans. I am going to design a superior fitness plan for myself and actually start cooking in my tiny New York kitchen. I am going to stop ordering take-out and get totally fit. I am going to work out every day and be tan and strong.
It’s this whole make over fantasy I've had ever since I saw that 80’s movie with Tony Danza when his nerdy daughter goes off to study abroad and comes back a total knock-out. I also had this fantasy when I really did study abroad. But instead of coming back fit and fabulous, I came back from England about 20 heaver, and pale. Damn them with their cloud cover, and their delicious beer, and chip butties (it’s like a french-fry sandwhich, and fabulous when you’ve had too many delicious beers). It was also an unfortunate phase in my life when I wore a lot of overalls. That last one really had nothing to do with the British, just bad personal choices.
On top my plans to whip up into the best shape of my life, I am pretty sure that I am also going to: get totally organized, clean out all the weirdly used storages spaces in my apartment, do some kind of class (this summer I really was thinking tennis although my hand-eye lack of coordination makes me a danger to myself and others), learn a new skill like knitting, master the New York Times crossword (I can’t get past Tuesday!), and otherwise improve myself body and mind.
That’s what I hope to do. Yet every summer there comes a time (this year earlier rather than later) when I am still in my pajamas at 3:00pm, getting back into bed for my afternoon nap. And I have to wonder, how I am improved by this? What have I done today to make myself a better person?
Don’t get me wrong. I know the benefits of a good nap, and this is not something that I would cut out of my summer regimen willingly. But still, if all I have done since getting up is i.m. with my sister-in-law about that Matt guy and his dance video on youtube, check facebook, and watch the Bachelorette online (Oh my god! I totally knew DeAnna was going to pick Jesse! Awesome.), I have to wonder if I really deserve a nap. What have I done today? What should I be doing with all this free time that others would die to have? I do live in New York after all. Surely there are things that I could do each and every day that would expand my horizons. And that is my mission. Mission Bean’s Amazing Summer in the City.
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2 comments:
I wish I could take afternoon naps...
Can't wait to see what happens to our heroine next.
Life is not as exciting here in the country(suburbia) as it is in New York. Almost every afternoon I walk down the tracks to pick black raspberries for my desert after dinner. It is a small patch, right along the railroad tracks were everybody walks, but I guess no one else sees the berries.
There is a nest of rabbits at the base of the apple tree, at the end of my driveway. Yesterday morning the mother rabbit was there nursing the babies. She didn’t run until I was about two feet away. Their eyes are just opening.
The apples are looking good this year. On the tree at the end of the driveway seven of the eight varieties on the tree have apples. The earliest (Chestnut Crab) should be ripe in about a month. The neighbor boys have not been knocking the apples off with sticks this year … so that is a good thing.
One very exciting thing … I got a new John Deere riding lawn mower! Well, I had to get a new one. I mowed with the old one and drove it into the garage. When I shut it off it backfired and burst into flame. I was able to push it out into the lawn before it set the garage on fire. I haven’t moved that fast for awhile. Haven’t had any accidents with the new mower, yet.
We only had one hatch of Wood Ducks this spring. It was a nice hatch of 13 ducklings. The other duck boxes were unoccupied this year. The last two years we got to see them as the jumped out of the box and the mother took them away toward the lake. They just come tumbling out and bounce when they hit the ground. I think the mother can count, because as soon as the last one hits the ground she takes off for the lake.
Sunday I took a super of honey off one of the bee hives. It should make about 35-40 pounds of honey when I extract it. The other hives are not doing so well. It was a cold wet spring and the queens in the other hives did not lay enough eggs. It takes about 100,000 bees to make much honey. The poor little things have to work hard. I have several neighbor kids who come to help with the bees. It is fun to see them go from panic to being relaxed with the bees.
The last few days I have been packing for our trip this weekend. We are going on a canoe trip in the Boundary Waters. I have my stove, rope for hanging food away from the bears, paddle, tent, and of course my hammock. It is the first trip for Chloe(6) and Emmett(4). Others going are Megan, Pat, and Mike McMahon. It is the first trip for Mike too.
Next weekend we go to Milwaukee to help with the kitchen remodeling. Last time I was there I hurt my hand, but it is almost healed now.
I sure wish I could be in New York and share the excitement with you.
Love Senreg Trebron, #III
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