Let's Catch Up

I've successfully completed my first semester teaching multiple classes. I'm sure it wasn't my best work (sorry, guys), and I can understand the reasons some students didn't put the class higher on their lists of priorities (though why they bothered to keep coming to class boggles my mind). However, I'm really proud of the students I was able to reach. Some of them were just wonderful, and I'd be happy to see them again sometime just to chat.

Also, there's nothing like teaching writing to make me realize how much writing means to me. I was asked to teach again this summer, but I had to decline. This summer is for writing (as well as for reading widely in my favorite genres) once again. I have inchoate ideas that need to be harnessed into new, better-articulated projects; and I have one actual writing deadline that I don't want to miss.

Since school let out a couple of weeks ago, I've spent a week in Colorado for vacation and another week recovering from the vacation (isn't that how it always works?). Some highlights of the trip: I rode a horse for the first time (and didn't fall off), I learned a bit about the fascinating history of the ancient Pueblan people (formerly known as the Anasazi), and I found out how scary altitude sickness can be: we were at about 8,000 feet and my son nearly fainted early on during the trip. I honestly thought he was dying, and I was torn between trying to keep up his spirits and breaking down completely. I'd never seen him looking so pale and bloodless before, except when he was first born. Suffice it to say, it was an incredible relief when he revived by the time we got him to emergency services. And I will hereon make sure he is completely hydrated during our travels.

Now that I'm back home for the rest of the summer (until my next trip, which will be right before the fall semester starts up), I'm focused not only on my professional goals but also on a couple of personal ones, one of which is getting healthy again. Finishing my dissertation last year really derailed my exercise schedule, and I'm afraid that teaching this past spring didn't help much, either; even worse, I returned to some bad eating habits because I didn't have much time to cook regularly. I've been most consistent with yoga, in part because I treat it like therapy, but I need to incorporate more cardio. I also need to eat more vegetables. This summer, it looks like swimming will be back on the schedule, and summer vegetables and fruit are always much more appetizing to me than the fall and winter ones. Hopefully, I can break the bad eating habits, at least most of the time. I think taking an 80/20 approach has been most successful for me in the past. We will see how it goes in the next couple of months.

Pictures next time.

Gladys