Summer Break. Those two words have held different meanings for me. As a kid, that meant I could play from morning until dark, and only go inside for food or a bathroom break. As a teenager, that meant sleeping until 1:00, then finally deciding to get a job. As an adult, working in the corporate world, it meant sweating in office wear, and wishing I was one of those teachers who has the summers off.

Well, I’m one of those teachers who has the summer off. Except, that I don’t. It is all my fault. I over book myself with things I love to do. Because, God forbid, I sit still-just for a moment.

I am teaching drama camp at my elementary school. I am also directing Macbeth (for kids) at our local theater. I am taking three electives in grad school, so that I can finally finish the degree.

Drama camp. Within one week, we write a play, learn it, and perform it. Well, the play-writing part is my favorite. Our Gods vs. Monsters play includes a slow motion volleyball tournament to the Rocky soundtrack, Zeus getting miffed at Poseidon for posting cat videos on his INSTAGREEK wall, and a sinister Barbie who is the root of all of the evil in the world, thus inadvertently creating an alliance between the Gods and Monsters. My friend, and drama partner-in-crime (Shannon) decided it would be fun to have the kids mouth the words to Wilson Phillips’ hit song, Hold On. Our inspiration?

Makes perfect sense, right?

Macbeth Jr. Some may say that things have gone a bit far, but no one stopped me. My friends just keep encouraging my errant behavior. So the kids wanted to have a Star Wars theme. There is a light-saber fight. Lady Macbeth  wears the Princess Leia buns, and she has a full-on tantrum, on the floor, in a tiara and prom dress, when Macbeth begins to waver in his decision to kill King Duncan. The witches play cards, knit, play Sorry, have mini lady Macbeth Barbies (with mini Lady Macbeth tiaras) watch when Duncan becomes a ghost (who, by the way, is wearing a sheet with the eyes cut out). There are narrators who have morphed into the Godfather and his sidekicks. Somehow, the Godfather makes sense in Macbeth. We are Family is the curtain call music. I stopped there-I promise.

Young Adult Literature Class. I have to read 24 books by July 11th. I love to read, but somehow now that someone is telling me to, I am having a difficult time sitting still. I get up and vacuum. Sit down and read. Get up and organize the garage. Sit down and read. Get up and have a snack. Sit down and read. Run on the tread mill. Sit down and read. This is another eye-opening moment for me, since I have spent the last eleven years telling kids to read, with good intentions. But the pressure-oh the pressure!

Physical Science for Teachers. This is a great class, but I am the only non-science specialist elementary teacher in the class. On the first day of class, I just happened to be wearing my DRAMA CLUB shirt. I couldn’t have been more out of my element. Spoutings of ions, surface tension, and Newton’s laws pelted me. One classmate had a physics book handy for reference. I went to my happy place.

Environmental Science. Okay. This is one of the weirdest classes I have ever taken. Our professor is an entomologist. He is particularly interested in the mating habits of bugs. Did you know that some people have pet cockoaches….and they name them? We only have ONE written assignment for the class. We have to CONVINCE our professor that we read a book and visited a landfill and a water treatment plant. If I were in high school, I might feign my way through. But, somehow-I believe he would know. Then there is the inevitable guilt that would follow. So, I will drag my younger daughter a landfill next week. This jaunt will be under the guise of a ‘fun summer field trip’.

This summer also brings bitter-sweet feelings about the passing of time, and of the way a life can swiftly change and become something entirely different.

In a few weeks, my daughter will be moving on and going away to college. There will be a new silence in the house. Her unfilled space will be palpable. I’ll miss her irrational rants, and her incessant foraging in my closet. I’ll miss her odd obsession with baking cupcakes. It was five minutes ago when she was three years old, wearing a princess costume, and holding a magic wand.

So, as my summer passes, like the tesseract, I’ll attempt to see what is in front of me, and enjoy what I can-even if it is in a landfill.

K