Time Off

Today was the last day I will be working until August 30. There are no words for the relief I feel. The last three weeks have been very difficult for me, as my motivation and energy have been at an all time low. It has been a grueling school year. We doctoral faculty are supposed to have the summer off from teaching so we can publish and conduct our research. Today I sent in an article to the Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work--an article that has been in the making for four years. It is finally submitted. I have given the green light to a student to schedule his dissertation defense at the end of August, and sent the fifth revision suggestions of another dissertation to its owner today. All of my supervision except one individual has been either put on hold or parcelled out to others for the month. My work phone and email notifications that I'm out of the office have been created. So now I just need to relax.

Perhaps I'll sleep for the first week, if sleep is to be had with these little busybodies of ours. They need to be trained, as they still aren't too swift recognizing their own names, even if they are able to sit and come on command (if a treat is forthcoming). I have 108 packs of laminate wood flooring in the garage that I'd like to install in the house. It is sitting next to my new chop saw. I have six cans of paint, ready to get the bathrooms and our bedroom ceiling in order. The pale grey-green color for our bedroom walls has yet to be purchased. The material for our bedspread pillow shams are laid out and ready to be sewn. Every time I look at the livingroom windows I think about what kind of curtains I will make to hang. So there is no shortage of things to do while I'm off work. My challenge is to go slowly and to recognize that whatever doesn't get done now will be completed later.

While my neice is awaiting the birth of her second child, and my nephew is planning his wedding, while Sam is working every day, I will be here on the couch watching daytime TV, reading books that I have put off for four years, and cuddling my puppies. It is a good life after all.