Maybe my carefree's been careless.

Well that's essentially it: another school year put to rest. Tonight I'm going to graduation, then tomorrow's our year-end staff party, and that's it. Two months of rest, relaxation, and renewal.

Oddly enough, I always feel a bit of melancholy at this time of year. It's especially ironic because I spend a lot of time in May/June counting down to this moment. I think it has to do with the drastic negative acceleration that the pace of my normal day-to-day life takes. Two weeks ago, I was still teaching and finishing up all of my extra-curriculars. One week ago, I was busy marking exams and writing report cards. Today, I finished cleaning up my desk, and then I locked everything up and handed in my keys to the office, as per annoying regulations.

I think the source of this melancholy is that I feel somewhat unneeded. From September until June, I always have someone who is asking me questions, trying to break a rule, talking me into taking on another huge extracurricular project, wanting my approval, nagging me to see if I've marking the latest quiz/test/lab report, telling me a silly joke, asking for an extra copy of something they should not have lost, or listening intently to what I'm saying. For the next two months, fewer people need my attention, and at the beginning it just feels really really weird.

I know the feeling will fade by Friday, when I get to sleep in and have a leisurely morning coffee while watching crappy TV and then going for a bike ride or whatever I please. But it just amazes me how every year at this time I feel the exact same way. You gotta love the cyclical rhythm of a school year.

But yeah, summer! I have a lot of goals for this summer, but they all more or less fall under the theme of getting my life in order. I've got a good start on that because I've written important events on my calendar and I've made appointments for both the doctor and dentist.

Next up: I really have to start planning my road trip to Boston. I bought a New England travel guide about a month ago, and I haven't even cracked it open yet.

Oh! And it looks like I'm going to go on a camping trip in August. Real, actual camping in the wilderness with hiking and tents and all that jazz. I've never ever done that, and I'm sure it's going to provide this blog with a lot of entertainment.

Becca T will be arriving soon and we'll have all kinds of shenanigans on the go.

I'm also going to have more time to read. Can you believe that I just finished a book that took me a month to read? Thank goodness it was just essays: I don't think I could spread a novel out that long and still follow the plot.

Anyway, thinking of all of the exciting things that I have going on for the summer is making me miss my little hooligans less. How fast that feeling fades.