SUMMER OPTIMISM

My summer break is officially halfway over.  Well, it's more than half over because I have three mornings of classes coming up, I have to set up my new room in the new-to-us-but-old-moldy building, and I have about 20 young  adult novels I am supposed to read this summer ... but haven't. 

Yesterday I listed all of the impromptu things that I HAVE done.  In a few short weeks, I will be back to work.  Here is a list of the planned things that I have NOT done:

Gone through family photos
Cleaned files off my desktop computer
Sewn anything other than beanbags
Gone anywhere outside of Massachusetts or New Hampshire
Cleaned out my entire basement
Organized my work files
Sent any writing out to publishers
Built the computer desk I've had lying around for about 15 months
Taught my youngest to cook
Gone to dinner with sports friends
Taken the boat to the Harbor Islands
Ridden on Codzilla
Gone to the zoo (any zoo)

When I compare today's SHOULD DO list to yesterday's ALREADY ACCOMPLISHED summer list, I'm not too worried about the shift of balance between the two.  I usually see the end of the summer coming and try to cram everything into the few days before I have to go back.  This makes me crazy busy and crazy tired, and I convince myself that the summer has been a bust and that I haven't accomplished anything.

Actually, I've accomplished more than ever.  I've already done things this summer that I never thought I would do nor have the chance to do.  I guess that makes me the Optimist in this melodrama.  Alas, summer may seem to be waning, but look at it this way:  I still half of summer to look forward to!

Yay, me.