School-Year Endings and My Summer Plans

My first “year” teaching ended last week. (I actually only taught for about four months–not quite an entire year.) I had so many emotions last week that I had trouble figuring out what they were. They ranged from sadness to joy to confusion. Most days during the last week of school, I had no idea what was going on. Not from a lesson standpoint–I knew what I was teaching–but from an events standpoint. So many fun things happened, and I enjoyed every one of them. I had some sweet moments with my students and spent the last day of school playing outside with Samuel and Ruthie and their classmates.

These past few months of teaching will never happen again; no matter how hard I try to make them, things will never be the same as they were this year. The two seniors I had as students will never graduate high school again. Samuel will never be in first grade again, and I will never again get to experience starting my teaching career in the middle of the school year. I don’t mean any of this to sound pessimistic. Remembering this truth–that things will never be the same again–helps me live in the moment, or rather to “live to the hilt every situation [I] believe to be the will of God” (Jim Elliot). I can look back at past times and remember how much I enjoyed them, and I can look forward knowing that God will give me times like that again. For that matter, I’m probably living in those special moments right now. As I type this, my kids are playing quietly and nicely with each other. I can hear a lawn mower in the distance and the calls of birds in the trees by our house. It’s a lovely summer evening.

I have a lot of plans for this summer. Lord willing, I’m going to record my first album at my house in my ultra-fancy recording studio (the walk-in closet, soon to be complete with packing-blanket panels). Brian bought me some amazing new recording equipment from Sweetwater. I now own a Warm Audio condenser microphone and a Focusrite interface. I feel lost when I try to use them, but I’m optimistic I can learn. I’m in the process of choosing which songs to include on the album and how best to record them. It will be a big project, but an exciting project.

Lord willing, I’m going to do as much as writing as possible. That includes music and essays and a book. I’m also going to write some lesson plans for next year. I’ll be teaching science and music. I feel good about teaching science, which will include Physical Science and Biology; I feel less sure about teaching music, simply because I don’t have the experience. I’m looking forward to teaching music more than science, however. I just need to write enough lessons that I feel comfortable by the fall. I’d like to spend time discussing music theory, how to sing, folk music, hymns, soundtracks, and classical music. The lead teacher at school also gave me the go-ahead to write some of my own music to use in class. I feel so blessed every time I hear someone else, besides me, singing one of my songs. Sometimes I catch Brian or the kids humming one of my melodies, and I just want to cry happy tears. I can’t imagine how I’ll feel when I hear my students singing my songs. The tears will just gush from my eyes like waterfalls. So many blessings.

This summer will be interesting. I’m not used to being home all-day-every-day with the kids anymore. I have no idea what we’re going to do with all this time together. I envision calm summer days filled with laughter and rainbows and butterflies and picnics. I keep trying to temper my idealistic ideas of summer with cold, hard reality: my kids will probably argue with each other and with me. Things will not always be pleasant. I definitely struggle to balance out my thoughts about this aspect of summer. I know that God will provide us with good things to do. We’ll spend extra time with friends and family, and travel to the cabin, and play badminton in the yard. I pray that I’ll see all the good things God gives us as they come.

We don’t have any set weekends to go visit the cabin yet, but we do have plans to go to the Boundary Waters in August. We are taking the kids, which will be fun and busy. They’ve never done any backpacking before and I think they’re excited to see what it’s all about. I can’t wait to swim in the bouldery lakes and smell the pine trees. We bought Ruthie a pair of pink Keens to wear, and I also bought myself a new pair. Mine are gray with coral bungees–the Astoria model. They’re my favorite type of sandal for any water activity. In a month or so, we’ll start dehydraing food and we’ll get out all of our old backpacking equipment. I feel adventurous already.

The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
Psalm 19:1-2

What do you plan to do this summer?

Photo: Camille Chambert on Unsplash