Endings

I am on vacation.  I can't tell you how awesome it feels to have a job that ends once every year.  Throughout my education there was always summer to look forward to.  Life had a natural rhythm.  Work all fall winter and spring, push through and then, relax.  During all those years that I spent working normal jobs, it was so hard to get used to the idea that I was never done.  Work continued as it always does, for ever.  

The end was great.  I said my goodbyes to students who meant a lot to me, and to whom I meant a lot.  I offered my congratulations, and posed for pictures.  I wore a gown with Wesleyan colors on the hood.  I sat in the early summer heat and listened to a notable speaker lecture about the inevitability of failure and the necessity of persistence in the face of it.   Then I finished grading and writing comments, and started looking to next year.  We will be in a new house, we'll have a little girl, and I'll have a new batch of seniors.  I already have ideas about how it will be different in my class, how I will be different, how I will be better.  I will have new responsibilities.  I am taking over the school paper, along with a few of my distinguished colleagues.  Some students approached me about starting a film club that they want me to advise.  

In the midst of all this change I am struck by the cyclical nature of life.  Earlier this year I lost a cousin to pancreatic cancer.  Next fall I will become a father.  Juniors will become Seniors, and seniors will become freshmen again.  As a teacher there were times when I found myself filled with frustration and hatred and anger, other times I was so filled with pride I could barely contain it.  That's good.  The worst thing life could ever be is the same.  Variety is essential.  Peaks and valleys, highs and lows, beginnings and endings, make life interesting.  

She's a she!!!

It's a GIRL!!!!

This is the dock at Beaver Pond here on campus.  As the weather has gotten better kids have been heading out there to swim.  I have been loving the weather.  I have been driving with the top down as often as possible.

Hormones

I was reading The Expectant Father last night, and it suggested that a change in the hormones of the father might account for his deepening interest in infants and children.  It said that though the rise in hormones in the father is not as great as the rise of those in the mother, it follows a similar pattern.  

I do not know if this is true.  I am sure that there is scientific evidence that the change of hormones in the mother influences the hormones of the father, but I am not sure that it accounts for my growing interest in children.  I am, however, definitely more interested.  There seem to be babies everywhere I look now adays.  To be fair I did move to a small community recently, and there are lots of kids running around here.  Along with the normal amusement that comes from watching a two year old awkwardly try to play catch with his father comes a pang of envy.  I always try to keep a respectful distance from the children of others.  I am nice to kids, and I like spending time with them, but they're not mine so I usually avoid picking them up and dangling them upside down by their ankles, or giving them a raspberry.  These are things that I plan to do a lot with my own kids.  In the mean time I have to be patient.