Tuesday, June 30, 2009

A Lady of Leisure

Summer is delicious. That's my official take on the matter. And this summer is shaping up to be particularly enjoyable. Not only am I done with my full-day job working with elementary kiddos with behavior issues until September, but I'm not completely unemployed. I'm working in the summer version of the same school program, only this time it's half days Monday through Thursday, and only until August. I feel so spoiled!

On top of all that, my summer tiny class is filled with amazing students. I've only been teaching in the extended school year program for just over a week, but already I feel so blessed to know them as well as my three fellow staff members. Our "curriculum," for lack of a better term, covers how to relate well to one another. This week, for example, we're covering trust. (They made that fabulous banner that is pictured at the top of this post, with lots of sharing and politeness and hardly any shoving!) In addition, we're getting them out in the community riding bikes, visiting the public library, playing outside, and going on mini field trips. I'm having a blast!

But summer school only takes up my mornings. So what else am I up to these days? I bet you can guess -- blogging! I'm riding my bike instead of driving as much as possible, and heading out for luxurious mid-afternoons of lunch, mugs of tea or sugar-free Italian sodas, catching up with the long-ignored posts collecting dust on my Google Reader, and blogging here. It's fabulous, although I feel rather lazy enjoying this life of leisure while the Best Husband Ever continues on his 9-5-ish schedule.

Still, my feelings of being a bum are countered by biking in place of driving. Also, I'm able to hit the YMCA gym when it's less crowded. Unfortunately I'm still having trouble getting pool time in due to the summer camps that are in there, but I'm trying. Really.

I'm also practicing letting myself slow down and enjoy not being go-go-go all the time. I use the word "practicing" deliberately, because it's not easy for me, both in terms of my temperament and also in light of my [now mostly past] eating disorder. I really like to be busy, occupied, and productive-feeling. As a result, it's extraordinarily difficult for me to lay and watch a movie, spend quiet time with God and my Bible, curl up with a book, or, in fact, sit and blog. But I do. Because it's healthy. Because it's okay not be constantly in motion. Because I need rest, even if my anorexia is whispering that I need to get up and do something.

So I ignore it. I tell that voice that it's crazy and move on with my life. I watch a movie (last week the hubby exposed me to the wonderful old film, The Three Musketeers, which I found surprisingly delightful). I sit myself down and read. (I'm currently reading Markus Zusak's I Am the Messenger, which is a mature YA book that I'm completely engrossed in -- The Book Thief by the same author is also extraordinary.) I blog (obviously). I go out and take photos for no good reason. I drink my tea and enjoy it. I lay in the sun, soak up its luscious vitamin D, and allow myself to simply be.

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― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King