This summer marks the first summer in 15 years that I have had off. In the world of academia, if you don’t teach, you don’t get paid. Faculty positions are 10 month, not 12 – which is great if you also got paid the salary over 12 months…but we don’t. As I am transitioning from administration back to teaching/research faculty, I am using all of the vacation I had stored as a 12 month administrator – to the tune of almost 10 weeks worth! It has been amazing so far. I have been able to focus on taking better care of myself rather than spend my days churning through problems and putting out fires. The best part of it all is that I have been able to enjoy some much needed one on one time with Tiny.
As her school year was winding down, we sat down and put some priorities together for the summer. You would think it would be things like organize the closets, or clean out the garage. It wasn’t. We decided that we needed a summer bucket list. I don’t know when the next summer I will have completely off will be. Hopefully next summer, but who knows, I may need to teach. So we have decided to take full advantage of every minute of our time together while we have it. Honestly, that should be my mantra for a life well lived from this point out – no one is guaranteed another summer. We really aren’t even guaranteed another tomorrow. I’m glad I’m taking the time to do things with her, to just sit and talk to her. I am amazed by the witty, sassy, funny little things that come out of her soon to be 10 year old brain. When I think about her being only a few short years away from moving out of the house, it is staggering and heart wrenching. I am trying to bottle as much time as I can, in a way, and it starts now. Our priorities were set forth in a summer bucket list.
Summer Bucket List
- Go Camping
- Hunt for Gem Stones
- Throw Pottery
- Take a Hike
- Have A Picnic
- Go To The Beach
- Go On Vacation
- Crafts with Tiny
- Art Summer Camp
- Hike to 3 Different Waterfalls
- Make Homemade Ice Cream
- Color A Sidewalk Chalk Mural
- Make Jam
- Plant A Garden
- Visit A Waterpark
We have been busily working on our list, and in the next few weeks, I will be sharing some of our adventures. I have included this post as a page in the headings for the summer. My hope is that a few of these items will be easier than they seem at the outset. My suspicion is that many are going to be a bit more involved than I originally planned for. I may have been a bit ambitious as I started to plan our summer. You know how it goes, you get a little giddy at the thought of having some extra time and then, well, it seemed like a good idea in the beginning… It doesn’t matter if we are good at something or not – it doesn’t even matter to me if we like the activity as long as we try something new and spend some much needed quality time together in the process.
What items are on your summer bucket list?
I do this every summer and every Christmas with my nine year old. Some are material, others are experiences. WE have put search for fireflies on our list every year and haven’t yet found fields of them. Enjoy the summer off.
Thanks so much. This has been the best summer in years so far!