Gifts Freely Given

Welcome to the last day of summer vacation.

And being in the midst of such an auspicious event gets me thinking in platitudes. So as I lounge on the deck, squeezing out the last dregs of summer sunshine (actually, it's chilly, and I'm huddled in the kitchen with the windows shut looking for some solar inspired heating to emanate from the overcast, gray sky), I got around to reflecting on the notion of freely given gifts.

I have been blessed recently with some very positive signs in my life, which have thankfully offset the less then stellar signs that have also popped up. I guess the end of summer is like that: a blend of the good with the bad. A time to reflect on the things that were accomplished and the things that weren't, which used to be a ritual I participated in every late August. And while I could focus on the negative (like having to hire two new teachers in a relatively quick manner), I will choose to gravitate towards the positive, so no the deck didn't get stained and yes I probably could have worked more, but the real gems of the summer were the gifts that came for free.

So here's the list, not in its entirety, but as close to complete as I can disclose publicly:

• I had a wonderful vacation on Cape Cod (two, actually).
• I spent a great weekend with family in New Hampshire.
• The Cole Summer Writers Institute was another great success.
• I was able to develop TechMondays, a series of professional development courses for work.
• I opened a Flickr account.
• I reconnected with former students and old friends (thank you Facebook and Twitter).
• I learned about and created a wiki.
• I am almost done with the National Book Award winning novel (Shadow Country, by Peter Matthiessen, which is actually made up of three books: Killing Mr. Watson, Lost Man's River, and Bone by Bone- a whopping 900 page revision of these three books...so it's justifiable that it took me over a month to get there!).
• I learned thrift (too long a story for here).
  
• I continued the blog.
• I biked and ran a lot.
• I found a great new hiking spot in Duanesburg.
• I saw James Taylor, Sheryl Crow, and Yo Yo Ma at Tanglewood.
• I spent a lot of time with my kids.
• I enjoyed the time I spent with my parents.
  
• I spent a lot of time with a special person in my life, and have gotten closer to her. Our relationship has grown immensely (so much so that I am at my most confident now...feels good- but no personal stuff here!).

These all constitute freely given gifts, and they truly are the best. Summers go too quickly, and the winter lasts far too long for my taste, but at least we all made it through healthy, and can look forward to next summer's crop of halcyon moments.

Goodbye, summer, we hardly knew ye...