My 2022-2023 School Year has begun!

34) Plus a few reflections on this past summer

My school year started yesterday. My students come back tomorrow (Thursday). This has been one of the most fun summers I have had in a while. Do I feel well-rested for the school year? “Yes” and “No”. Do I feel mentally ready for the new school year? I’m currently ambivalent, but do happen to lean more “Yes” than “No”. By the time my students arrive for their first day of school, I will be a definite “YES!”

The school year jitters don’t stop, they just evolve over time. I’ll be finishing up two graduate courses this coming Fall as well. To be able to fulfill my responsibilities as a teacher, student, writer, family man/father, and a healthy/active person - is a tall task. But, I am committed to it.  

Here are a few things I learned (or maybe even re-learned) this Summer:

• 5 - Life is as fast or as slow as I want it to be: I certainly had down time this summer, but then I also had frenetic time. Being a parent certainly is a time-consuming task, but absolutely a worthwhile endeavor. (Check out my July Summer Days (2022) post, about what I was up to earlier this summer.)

• 4 - I spent more time outside this summer than I had in a while: When you really break it down, New York does have some prime months for nice weather. Granted, Climate Change seems to have impacted the four seasons, where we seem to have longer Summers and longer Winters, and less of everything else. (The less being Autumn and Spring).

• 3 - People are people: We all have our moments, (at least I know I do) where I am awesome to be around, and there are certainly times I’m not always so awesome to be around. But, one thing I know for sure is, everyone has a desire to be heard or seen in some kind of way. Hence, why social media has become so ominipresent in all of our lives.

• 2 - Back to the theme of Life being “Fast or Slow”: There is no replacement for time. Time is all we have. We can’t make it up. As my Principal recently said to me; 

  “The only thing worse than getting old, is not getting old.”- M.W. 

  These words ring more true for me each and every single day! After having lost my mom in 2015 at the age of 71 (after years of being sick), and my one and only sister at the age of 43 in 2020, I cherish each and every moment even more now. I appreciate my father even more (he just turned 80 last month). And I especially embrace getting older even more. (Check out my 41 thoughts for 41 years, post.)

• 1 - We all create life all the time!: What I mean is, life doesn’t happen to us, but rather life is happening based on the actions we take and the decisions we make. For example, your family does choose you, and we choose our family. While we don’t pick who our biological parents are, we still do end up choosing them. And if we are so blessed, they choose us back.

I’m excited for this new school year. I’m choosing it! It’s choosing me! May the new adventures begin.

Peace & Love

-JPJ