Resolutions Redux

For those of us who work in schools, summertime is like a mini New Year. When I think of three months without classes, rehearsals, and performances to prepare for, my mind literally roils with all the things I want to do. Here are some of the things bubbling around in my head:

1. This summer, I am determined to lose the 15 pounds of pre-menopausal fat that have mysteriously accumulated in various places on my body over the past two years. Tomorrow, I'm going to FitZone for Women and sign up. I will then faithfully return there every Monday, Thursday, and Friday and spend 30 minutes on the treadmills, bicycles, or circuit training machines. So there, body! Take that!
2. This summer, I am delving into a new creative realm-photography. Jim has always been the family photographer, and he's so darn good at it I was never tempted to try it myself. But I just bought myself an Olympus 310, my own personal digital camera, and can't wait to start snapping. Hopefully, I'll have some shots good enough to post on this site.
3. This summer, I'm going to continue writing, and explore an online workshop or class, as well as seek out new blogs to inspire me, so that I can prepare at least one personal essay or short story to submit for publication.
4. This summer, I'm going to get one of my Beethoven Piano Sonata's back in shape. For the past couple of years I've been playing Mozart and Haydn, while my vintage Artur Schnabel editions of the Beethoven gathered dust in the basement. I pulled one out the other day and was immediatly struck by the way he enlarged the sonata form and made it so exciting. As I paged through Volume 1, I was surprised at how many of them I had actually learned once upon a time.
5. This summer, I'm going to read Dickens' Bleak House and watch the new BBC mini-series, which was highly recommended by my friend Shari, who has very discerning taste when it comes to TV. I'm also going to explore more poetry, since I've been inspired by Poetry Thursday.
6. This summer, I'll be cooking more, exploring some healthy eating options (in keeping with Number 1 on my list). I'm off to Barnes and Noble later today for some cookbook shopping.
7. This summer, as every summer, I'm going to relish more time with my family, my doggies, and the outdoors. I'm making it a priority to visit my mother in law every week, as well as my aunt and uncle. It's amazing how an hour spent watching the doggies can cheer them up. I'm also hoping for daily walks in the park with Magic and Molly, and lots of opportunites to sit on the patio with my book and a cold glass of wine, watching the sun go down and the fireflies come out.

So much for my summer resolutions. I have to keep tamping down new ones as they pop into my mind, knowing how easy it is to be overcome with ideas and then lack the courage to begin anything! Earlier today, I got excited about scrapbooking, after seeing some awesome digital scrapbook entries on a blog I ran across. That would tie in so well with my new photography pursuit...

I Belong in - Dublin?

You Belong in Dublin

Friendly and down to earth, you want to enjoy Europe without snobbery or pretensions. You're the perfect person to go wild on a pub crawl... or enjoy a quiet bike ride through the old part of town.

What European City Do You Belong In?

Based on my answers to several questions, this litte internet test has determined my heart really belongs in Dublin. I don't know about that - I felt really at peace last spring when I was in Kent, particularly in this little town called Frant, just near Tunbridge Wells. I'm willing to give Dublin a try, though. I like the part about the pub crawl, which would certainly have to come after the bike ride!

School's Out

Next week I get my life back. If you're a teacher, you know what I mean. School's out, and suddenly we all emerge from the cocoon of the classroom and stand blinking in the bright sunlight of our own personal lives, wondering blankly what to do with them. For the past 13 years, I've been working with high school musicians, specifically singers, as the piano accompanist for choirs in a magnet school for the arts. In the world of vocal music, the months between February and May are extremely intense. First comes District Solo Ensemble Festival, close on the heels of the Valentine's Cabaret. Then District Choral Festival, followed closely by State Solo Ensemble. Then "The Musical" (Hello Dolly this year), State Choral Festival, Spring Concert, Tour Competition (in Washington DC last weekend) - which brings us (WHEW!) to "Movin' On," the final showcase concert for Choralation, our senior ensemble/show choir.

This is a very poignant concert, as the title suggests, with each senior singing a lyric from the song which gives the concert it's name, ending with "I just keep movin', cause it helps to ease the pain." Needless to say, there are many tears, probably the most heartbreaking of which come from the "tough guys" who never fail to sob the hardest.

This year's crop is particularly talented and very close. There's Liz (whose mom has been in and out of hospital for the past four years being treated for bipolar disorder and alcoholism) who still manages to be editor of the school paper, earn first place awards at vocal festivals, and handle a starring role in the musical. She's off to Western Michigan University on a journalism scholarship. There are Vinnie and Matt, the "Martin and Lewis" of the department. Inseparable since kindergarten, they travel on to pursue their thespian dreams-one to Los Angeles, the other to New York. And Eden, the star of every show that goes up at school, also famous for losing her wallet in every city she's visited in the past year, also going to LA to study acting. David, the meterologist in training, Tyler, who has "always wanted to be a city planner (what an odd dream for a child to have!), "Dr." Teresa, who always listens to everyone's problems and wants to open her own psychology clinic. The list goes on.

Next year's group of seniors is just as diverse and talented. Difference is, I won't be there on the sidelines as the dramas of their lives unfold. Their director, my good friend Pat, is retiring after 18 years of gently guiding young people toward the fulfillment of their dreams. She has done amazing things for her students, and I have loved riding her coattails. As her first bunch of graduates heads into their 30's, we've loved watching their college and professional performances, attending school concerts for those who have become music teachers, being part of their life experiences like weddings and baby showers, and sadly enough, leading a group of alumni in singing at a funeral.

So as this era of my life comes to a close, I stand in the glare of more than just the ususal three months away from school. I'll be looking for other ways to keep my fingers limber on the keyboard (the one with 88 ivories that is!) I'll also be looking for ways to replace the energy, spirit, and enthusiasm that just oozes out of teenagers and leaks onto everyone who spends time with them. Any ideas?

Sunday Scribblings-First Love

First love - let's see, would that be Gordon, that darling little mama's boy in fifth grade who wrote me a wonderful letter asking me to marry him, move to a farm in Canada and raise dogs, cats, horses, sheep, cows, and goats? Sounds appealing, doesn't it? Or would it be David,(another mama's boy-is there a pattern emerging here?)who took me to my first junior high school dance, and kept me company at the bus stop every afternoon, where we shared a Butterfinger candy bar while we waited.

Maybe it was Ed, my older cousin from Georgia, who spent two weeks at our house one summer. Tall, gawky, and oozing southern charm, he was handsome in a sort of devilish way. All my friends were entranced with his southern accent, and he had great fun teasing us with silly nicknames and jokes. I can remember all of us huddled in my backyard, crying our eyes out when he left to go home.

Well, I was definintely obsessed with these boys, but I know none of that was love. My attachment to them was based on imaginary emotions,feelings I had neither the wisdom or maturity to name at the time.

This is sappy, but it's true. My first love is the one dozing in front of the TV right now, the one that got up at 6:00 a.m. today (on a holiday weekend) to drive me to a music festival 75 miles away. He's the one that brings me coffee in bed every morning, who sends me text messages that say "thinking about you right now" or "love you." He's the one who has always supported my interests and my desires, no questions asked, no complaints made. Oddly enough, he was once, many years ago, a little bit of mama's boy. But for the past 30 years, he's been MY boy-first, last, only love.

Poetry Thursday

Why I Wake Early

by Mary Oliver

Hello, sun in my face.

Hello, you who make the morning

and spread it over the fields

and into the faces of the tulips

and the nodding morning glories,

and into the windows of, even, the miserable and the crotchety-

best preacher that ever was,

dear star, that just happens

to be where you are in the universe

to keep us from ever-darkness,

to ease us with warm touching,

to hold us in the great hands of light-

good morning, good morning, good morning.

Watch, now, how I start the day

in happiness, in kindness.

It was purely luck that I came across this poem today, passing a bit of time in the poetry section of my library. I haven't read poetry in a long time, but the posts on Poetry Thursday have inspired me to tap into verse.

Why I Wake Early is the title poem of Ms. Oliver's volume published in 2004. Her bio says she is "one of the best selling poets in America," and she has been awarded the Pulizter Prize for Poetry as well as the National Book award. The poems in this collection speak to our awareness of the world around us, and the many ways it shapes our lives.

I awoke early to the sun myself today. Now late May in Michigan, that "dear star" has just begun to spread her lovely "warm touches" over us. It was worth waking early to see, and I did indeed start my day in happiness.