pace thyself

beginning a new semester is exhilarating. i love the students i'm working with. i love the subjects i'm teaching. what more could i ask for. it is as if somehow my life has become the life i wanted. so many years i've been looking to this place. i walk around now and just smile.

i went hiking saturday with a group of women and at one point when we started out i just hollered out,

it's a beautiful day!

because it is. they all are. even the ones that are not snow encrusted. even the average rainy day, or the muddy slogging cold day. they are all beautiful days.

i'm grateful to be able to help so many young minds grow. watching people's worlds enlarge is highly recommended. i hope i never lose this joy of being with a classroom full of students. i hope this semester continues to be one of mutual regard. today two of my former students leaned in my doorway as i was teaching and waved at me. i just smiled and greeted them by name. i've seen a few others in the hall. we have little catch up sessions. it is so good to know these people. so good to see them grow.

i still don't know how any of this plays out. how i will make ends meet someday. what is going to come of this venture. but i don't need to know today. i just have to show up in class and be present to the students i am working with. that is all that is expected of me. there is not mystery of the universe to unravel, no great dilemma to solve. just one more class, one more day of teaching. the rest will settle itself in due time.

i am blessed. i am grateful. i am, as always these days, looking forward to work tomorrow. it is what i am supposed to be doing with my life. when you find your road. enjoy it. i never knew how good life could be until now. even the upsets, the heart breaks, the trials, even those seem far more manageable because i'm right where i'm supposed to be in my life.

i wish this for you too my friends. wherever you are. may you pursue your bliss each day.

i want to write more poems. i haven't been productive lately, but that has never stopped me before. but i feel the backbuilding going on and know it is just a matter of time before the spigot turns on and the poems come pouring out. i will be ready. i live my life in a state of readiness for the next poem.