Spare Moments

Living gratefully today, I appreciate an extra day off and the long weekend ahead. I give thanks for recliner time with my husband Darcy. 

The cyclical nature of a school year is something I am familiar with after 33 years of traditional August to May/June calendars. The energy shifts and changes in various ways as the year goes on. But this, this year #33, has been like none other. 

My school has been in session in person all but six days. That has been so good in so many ways, and none of us could have known this when we started the year with plenty of uncertainty and trepidation. I am drained beyond drained. Tapped out. Limping to the the finish line. From the daily masking to the increased mental health concerns that came our way, from the quarantined students to the Zoom meetings, we kept plugging along.

So this extra day off to start the Memorial Day weekend is most welcome. These words from one of my favorite writers are also most welcome:

Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value

will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.

(Ralph Waldo Emerson)

I think of spare moments this school year when I could sit in my office, unmasked and breathe freely. I think of sitting at a small meeting with my fully vaccinated colleagues and marveling at how nice it is to see them smile. The masks are one of many things that made it possible for us to proceed with our school year in the building. They are also one of the things that most drained me.

Spare moments to regroup in a most unusual year. Spare moments to gather energy to make it the last couple hours of the last day of a work week. 

Spare moments at home. An extra minute or two of just sitting. Just sitting and doing nothing. Not my strong suit . . . yet. 

Spare moments in my writer's mind. To let a poem be birthed. To put pen to paper to capture a private insight. 

Spare moments as I exist as a tiny speck in this universe. To watch the hummingbird hover. The sun rise. The leaves rustle in a light breeze. 

Have a good day, and some meaningful spare moments too.