The third week of May is approaching. For school that means spring testing is done, spring conferences are coming, children are restless, and teachers are restless. We see the end, but it isn’t quite here. It’s not that we don’t enjoy learning and teaching. It’s purely that we are tired. We need a rest. We need to rest our bodies and our minds. We need that warm summer sunshine, not this rainy spring.
For me that means I need to sit and reflect, ask myself what my body and mind need, and then I must listen. I have been doing this teaching-summer-teaching cycle for forty-five years. However, there were about twenty years when I also taught in the summer. But now – now I rest in the summer and gather in all the mountains, sea, and sunlight my mind and body can hold. I go out and seek images that I capture in photographs or poems. This is my time, and I am looking forward to it.
Every year, spring gets a little harder. My body aches, and my mind will not shut down with all the work I need to wrap up before June. But I love what I do, and I want to continue it a little while longer. I know the children keep me young, keep my mind working, make my body twist in positions I wouldn’t normally do. Children, I think, are the fountains of youth. I want to make sure I keep that child-spirit within me. I know keeping that child-spirit will help me age more gracefully.
Sometimes, I need to give myself a pep talk so that I go out and exercise. I can find a myriad of excuses. But deep down I know that I must keep my body moving to keep my mind alert and active. I sustained a minor back injury a week ago, and that alone could give me a reason to stop moving. And I did stop moving for a few days, but now it’s time to put on my sneakers and take a journey into the spring world.
Word Dancer: Literature, the Arts, & Education 
Yep, I feel you! I want to keep teaching for at least a few more years, but I also feel tired! I do not walk, but do ride my stationary bike every morning and I need to give myself pep talks! I believe in you!
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I wish I were right there with you, the world at the tips of my shoes and a gorgeous park with benches to walk in. May is indeed a beast of a month for educators – – I feel the data crunch, the deadlines, and as one who works through most of the summer, the wheels keep moving as we close out one year, come up for air, and dive back down to start the planning of the next year.
I wish I could be there to walk with you, to take the deep, deep breaths needed for the fresh tree oxygen my spirit needs. I, too, am tired.
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Thanks, Kim. I often think of you on the farm and Boo Radley and the rest of your menagerie. I’d like to go walking with you in your neck of the woods.
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Your poem so captured my exact thoughts last night, except it was go ride. I was pushing myself to go for a ride and once I did it was so lovely. Love to think of summer the way your wrote this “now I rest in the summer and gather in all the mountains, sea, and sunlight my mind and body can hold.”
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Joanne, I am awed by your forty-five years in the teaching profession. No one could sustain it that long without a true passion for the work and the students. Even though it’s that time of year when we feel like we can barely drag ourselves to the finish line, your words crackle with energy. I can relate so much of this. I keep the summer free, too, for the benefit of my family and my own wellness It’s a healing time. Sunlight, nature, walking…all these things you write about are absolutely what we need, especially as we’re growing older. Lots of folks have asked when I plan to retire. It’s not quite on my horizon yet…but summer is, and it’s rewarding, this time to rest from our labors and savor life more intently for a season. Know I’m walking right alongside you, friend.
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Inch by inch, it’s happening. Here’s to your summer recharge, “gather in all the mountains, sea, and sunlight my mind and body can hold.” Enjoy the walking “past the green maples/and all their green cousins.” I love that the trees form an extended family surrounding you as you summon the wherewithal to move. Keep walking. There’s beauty there.
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Joanne, what a beautiful post, and then the dessert of the accompanying poem, which sums up your thoughts so succinctly. I hope your back is on the mend fully, and that summer comes oh-so-quickly. Those thoughts of what children do are so true. I loved (and was exhausted) with my years teaching kindergarteners. They truly “make my body twist in positions I wouldn’t normally do.” Enjoy gathering in all the sights and sounds and love of summer.
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You motivate me to keep doing what I’m doing–volunteering–reading to first and second graders in an inner city school. Just finished 10 years with the first graders after teaching high school business classes for 21 years, again in an inner city high school. I’m tired and thankful for summer and was even thinking of stopping after this year, BUT what would I do? and what would the children do without my storytelling? Thank you.
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1st and 2nd graders – all children – give back so much. I look forward to each and every day with them. They are our BEST hope, and they keep the worries of the world at bay. Thanks for subscribing!
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