March has begun. It is spring break at Lehigh; a little change of pace, a tiny break in our rhythm. It has been a long winter and today — for the first time in months — I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. I took the photo above with my phone as I walked to my car in the parking lot of a coffee shop. I stopped for a minute just to feel that sun on my face.
The Lehigh students are away on spring break. They are in Cancun, and Miami, and some are at home with their families, and some are doing things that I can only dream of right now (one told me she was going to spend the week with some of her friends on her family’s boat in the British Virgin Islands; oh how I’d love to be spending a week that way right now!). I’m not jealous though; I’d never want to be twenty again. I’m happy for them all, and I worry about those for whom I know going home is hard. As for me, I’m truly glad this week to be in sunny Pennsylvania where today it was registering 53 degrees and it felt like the most beautiful day that there ever was.
I am External Member for a dissertation committee of an old student of mine from Lehigh. She graduated years ago and today she was defending her dissertation prospectus in criminal justice at Rutgers University. It was gratifying to hear her speak so eloquently about her work, with such sophistication. It is incredible now, more than a decade into teaching, to be able to look at these amazing people and say, “I knew them when.” I feel proud of, and grateful for, the work I’m doing. It is hard work, but it is good work.
At home too. It is so hard, but so good. The work I’m doing at home I am proud of, and grateful for. Meera’s homework today was another reminder that March is here.
The boys’ pants too are another reminder that March is here. In the laundry room tonight I sprayed these suckers with at least a quarter of a bottle of ‘Spray ‘N Wash’ and threw them in the washing machine and hoped for the best. This is what it is all about people— if your pants don’t look like this at the end of a beautiful early March day, then something is wrong! I hate laundry, and I’m happy to do this laundry tonight. Finally! Some muddied up pants to wash!
The start of March also means swimming lessons. The boys have no more levels to reach. They’ve swam their way right out of lessons. But Miss Meera is right back in the pool once a week this spring semester, and loving it. While Braydon took her to swimming lessons tonight, the boys and I wrapped up a 2-day-long game of Monopoly. Kids vs. Parents. These guys are so freaking competitive! How did this happen? Tonight I was able to be fully present and sit back and see them for who they are– all the crazy good and crazy bad– and I am proud and grateful for who they are and who they are becoming.
We are, as usual, going at full tilt. There is too much each day to blog about. I’m proud and grateful for that. Our life is like a lion roaring. It is too much to try to track it, almost too loud to take in. I can’t do it justice as I try to capture it. So, I’m just jotting down what I can in fits and starts these days. It’s the best I can do for right now. And I’m learning that sometimes, the best I can do, just has to be good enough.
There are no lambs around here right now. It is all lion. And it is all good. Even the bad is good enough.