Checking in from a very tired place on Friday night. Every-other-night of being up in the middle of the night goes less gracefully than it did in my younger days.
Today I am trusting that a day of rest and just being tomorrow will help me get ready for the tumult of April and "bootcamp" for the students. I'm in that super-uncomfortable, almost-overwhelmed place that always seems to hit me when I launch something new academically. Yes, I know (cognitively) that it will be okay. I'm still anxious and I will be until we get through Day 1 on Monday. Once I'm through that I'll be fine.
Today I am grateful for my friends who most know when I need a good laugh and who provide me with the perfect material to be entertained. Sometimes it consists of laughing at me, and that's okay too (I'm funny. Really, I am.).
Today I am inspired by a novel I'm trying my best to re-read right now (between episodes of sleep deprivation) thanks to an excellent selection by my book group leader. We're reading Wallace Stegner's Angle of Repose, which I clearly remember being one of the first "Western literature" novels that I read after moving to Utah. The writing remains beautiful, lyrical, and vividly descriptive of so much of this wild country I've come to love and call home. If you haven't read some Stegner, this is highly recommended. If you aren't ready to commit to a novel, try his Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs, a beautiful collection of autobiographical essays. Stegner without a doubt appears on my list of life-changing authors.
Now Listening: Kasey Musgraves "Follow that arrow." If you want to listen for yourself, go here. I have to respect a woman who writes songs like this AND who puts them on an album entitled "Same Trailer, Different Park."Labels: TGIF