The summer of ’21 has been over for a few days and I’m still looking back at it with melancholy regret. In particular, I’m thinking about my 6 ½ week vacation from teaching. There were plenty of plans made and in truth, very few happened. Things I wrote out to accomplish collected dust and will have to wait.
Some of what was on my ‘To Do’ list included-
Start eating healthier and exercise more. I did this in little spurts followed by days of gluttony and laziness. Mission not even really started, let alone progressing.
Keep up my yard and get it in good shape. My neighbor’s kid cuts my lawn (because allergies to fresh mown grass have stopped me from doing so) the grass looked O.K. but all the plants and weeds that surround my lawn (front and back, grew out of control with me doing very little to remedy that)
Patch up cracks in my driveway. I had the driveway sealed and it looks good but I wanted to touch up some spots before winter. Still hasn’t been done.
Clean out my garage. The good news is I have hardly anything in my car’s resting area but plenty of leaves and dirt. Nothing’s been done there either.
Creatively, I wanted to write some short stories that are COVID related. I have about four different tales outlined but formal creation of those stories wasn’t even started. There was the hope to post those stories on my blog page. Maybe next year.
The two things I DID do this summer was swim almost daily at East End Pool and watch lots of White Sox and Cubs baseball. That was about it! I just let the days off drift into each other and they slid right into the crapper with nothing accomplished.
One thing I’ve learned; I am no good with so much open time. When it comes to work and teaching, I’m a regimented ‘Get it done’ on schedule person, but when left to drift on my own with no agenda, nothing gets done.
As the return to the classroom loomed, I kept mumbling to myself how I wasted my time off. On my first vacation day (June 26th) I was so full of piss and vinegar ready to accomplish tasks. I’m really great at making these free time plans, just not good at seeing them through. I’m disappointed in my total lack of effort.
Will next year be different? I’d like it to be. But that has to come from my own inner drive and discipline. Tune in a year from now and see if I’m spouting the old familiar line “Wait til next year.” I sure hope that’s not the case.
