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I haven’t accomplished all I should have in June and July. I didn’t take Amigo to the orthodontist yet, I didn’t write my first novel, I didn’t use the new lipreading software I bought, in fact, I haven’t loaded it yet. And it’s August!

That’s a problem with being a teacher. In my line of work (elementary classroom), we put our hearts and souls into our work from mid-August until mid-June, and then expect to pack in a year’s work of leisure time in 8-10 weeks. No wonder I’m getting this feeling of failure!

But if I look away from the to-do list and focus on the Ta-Da! side, it looks better. Really.

• I packed up and moved all of my personal/professional classroom materials to another school during the last week of school in June. It filled one and a half minivans and took three large cart-trips to get it all in the building. Most of that? Boxes of books.
• I cleaned out my current room and handed in the keys. Oh, that took more out of me than I thought. Handing over the key after seven years was a toughie.
• I’ve taken at least one bus trip each week with Amigo. He needs to learn public transportation because he will not be able to drive, and we sure have fun riding downtown to the library or to have lunch.
• I sat with a pet rabbit as he died, and comforted the daughter who loved him so much.
• I helped Amigo pack for camp, and picked him up, sweaty and happy, a week later.
• I spent a weekend in Chicago. (No, not BlogHer, darn, but it was really fun.)
• I planted, watered, weeded the garden, and the results are showing. We’re eating fresh tomatoes on every salad, and I’ve cooked fresh green beans in the steamer. The bunnies are getting fresh lettuce and parsley, too. Mmmm.

Okay, there’s more, but I feel better now. There are many miscellaneous list items I didn’t accomplish, but there are enough important pieces on my “Ta-da!” list that I can feel good about my summer. I think I can slowly start working on getting ready for school. S-l-o-w-l-y.