day 1: summer

June 21. The first official day of summer for both the world, and myself. I figured I'd hit the ground running. Got up at 6:30 (it matters not how desperately I want to sleep in, my body just refuses to let me...), and watched the morning news with Big Red. He was off to work, and then Olive and I caught up on a couple of shows stored on the DVR. Then, it was time to head out for a walk. Olive was pumped and all wagging tail when she saw me pull out her harness. We walked for about 45 minutes in the sticky morning air, and then I attempted a yoga DVD lent to me by P. My unagi breath, or whatever the hell the woman from the DVD said it was, got its proverbial lotus-ass kicked. The session on the DVD is 60 minutes long, and I got through 20 minutes of it. I was all wobbly, and my once limber body has since become, un-limber.

From the ages of 5 to almost 13, I was a gymnast. I was a gymnast who could pretzel herself without thinking twice. I could bend myself in half and touch my nose to my knees. The splits? Pshaw! No problem. Now - not so much: BIG problem. I guess I shouldn't say problem, but rather more of a challenge. I'm not 13 anymore. I'm almost 33. I understand that getting back some kind of flexibility is a process and definitely an earned ability. I'm willing to work on it though, and that's what counts. 20 minutes of the DVD today, perhaps I'll get through 22 tomorrow, and then 27 the following day.

This summer is going to be about NO EXCUSES. I have high hopes for what I can accomplish both mentally and physically, and I think I've started well. Z sent me an email about what a great first night of freedom she had last night. A glass of wine and some warm summer air ushered in her freedom. She also wrote that, "teaching can be a beautiful thing if [we] embrace the eloquent freedom of summer." I've written about this before, how important summer is to a teacher, that it's much more than just 8 weeks of no students. In my humble opinion, we need it to be able to do our jobs well and passionately.

I don't think I'll have any problems embracing the eloquent freedom of summer.
Nope. No problems.