Keeping busy
I'm doing my best to stay out of trouble these days. At work I am putting together lectures on health and wellness that I will never teach. Last semester I received a grant to develop online fitness courses for my department, they're on the schedule and students are registering for them, so I'm stuck! It's peculiar writing lectures, labs, and quizzes that have me all over them: my words, my voice, my artistic vision stamped all over the PowerPoint lectures and internet tools I am developing. Yet I'll be thousands of miles away. I leave a (very) modest legacy behind.
I'm also teaching this summer. In fact, I'll be teaching up until three weeks before we move. At the risk of sounding self-aggrandizing, I have to say my lectures have been inspired this term. I have a small, receptive class, but they seem to be tolerating my tangents and asides well. We're discussing physical education and fitness. They're not exactly topics that inspire real passion, but I find my self swelling up with righteous indignation at the state of parenting and teaching, at childhood obesity, and schools that make competitive sports a higher priority than their students' well-being.
See? I'm already getting puffed up just thinking about it!
Aside from work, I'm busy planning my four year-old's birthday party. I've ordered the cake, planned the activities, and I'm shopping for snacks and party favors. No clowns or magicians for my little girl - we're going all classy and high brow. My little princess is getting a museum party with mummy races and a design-your-own-fiesta-parade-gown contest. And how about a "pin-the-mustache-on-the-Mona-Lisa"? That was my husband's brilliant idea.
It's not that I've completely forgotten about selling my house, finding a new job, or packing up our worldly belongings. It's just that I've managed to convince myelf that everything else is so much more urgent and pressing right now, and I have plenty of time for those more tedious tasks. I know the reckoning is not far away. This awareness creeps into my thoughts right around bedtime when the kids are sleeping, the house is in order, and the distractions are on hold.
For now I have my husband's undivided attention. I have the luxury of bombarding him with questions about party themes and pinatas. In four months I'll be forced to cope with these trivial matters on my own. Of course I'm capable, but I value his opinion almost as much as I value his support and company. In four months I may have to be more responsible, proactive, independent, and mature.
In the meantime, to you think the museum will mind if I have a dozen 4 year olds wrapping themselves up in rolls of toilet paper? Pass the cupcakes!!
I'm also teaching this summer. In fact, I'll be teaching up until three weeks before we move. At the risk of sounding self-aggrandizing, I have to say my lectures have been inspired this term. I have a small, receptive class, but they seem to be tolerating my tangents and asides well. We're discussing physical education and fitness. They're not exactly topics that inspire real passion, but I find my self swelling up with righteous indignation at the state of parenting and teaching, at childhood obesity, and schools that make competitive sports a higher priority than their students' well-being.
See? I'm already getting puffed up just thinking about it!
Aside from work, I'm busy planning my four year-old's birthday party. I've ordered the cake, planned the activities, and I'm shopping for snacks and party favors. No clowns or magicians for my little girl - we're going all classy and high brow. My little princess is getting a museum party with mummy races and a design-your-own-fiesta-parade-gown contest. And how about a "pin-the-mustache-on-the-Mona-Lisa"? That was my husband's brilliant idea.
It's not that I've completely forgotten about selling my house, finding a new job, or packing up our worldly belongings. It's just that I've managed to convince myelf that everything else is so much more urgent and pressing right now, and I have plenty of time for those more tedious tasks. I know the reckoning is not far away. This awareness creeps into my thoughts right around bedtime when the kids are sleeping, the house is in order, and the distractions are on hold.
For now I have my husband's undivided attention. I have the luxury of bombarding him with questions about party themes and pinatas. In four months I'll be forced to cope with these trivial matters on my own. Of course I'm capable, but I value his opinion almost as much as I value his support and company. In four months I may have to be more responsible, proactive, independent, and mature.
In the meantime, to you think the museum will mind if I have a dozen 4 year olds wrapping themselves up in rolls of toilet paper? Pass the cupcakes!!
posted by law school widow at 10:13 AM
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