September: Another Academic Year Begins

September always brings complicated and strange feelings even after all these years. It has been a long time since the year 2008 (when I "retired"). It has been a lifetime, it seems, since I taught a regular course in a university classroom. Still, after 17 years, there is something like grief mixed in with my emotions. I miss my old "active life" as a professor.

Meanwhile, Eileen begins her teaching semester this week, and Jojo begins her final year in the White Oaks Upper School at the John XXIII Montessori Center. And so, once again, the house is quiet during the day, and I am alone. I’ll have to get used to that again. The evenings are also getting shorter, too — although there is still daylight at 7:00 PM. And at least for the moment, the weather has cooled off, so I can have more time outdoors.

I'm a bit droopy in September. At the same time, this new academic year beckons me to continue my scholarship and writing, and be open to new possibilities to serve the Lord with the gifts He has given to me. So often I feel useless, but I pray that God will draw me with His merciful love and lead me on the paths He chooses for me.

And to remember, every day, to be grateful.