Rocktober

It's my favorite month of the year at last. Among the many great features of October: (1) Autumn, my favorite season; (2) My birthday; (3) Our anniversary.

I'd add Halloween to that -- I really enjoy doing Halloween with the kids -- but I won't be here for it this year. I'll be in Washington, D.C. at the National Collegiate Honors Council annual meeting.

All day I've been joking with the staff that it's too bad October is here, because now I have to do all the things I put off until October. And there's some truth to that. I've committed to doing a lot of things in October -- this weekend I'm teaching an Inquirers Class at church, next weekend I'm teaching Methodist pastors all day again, the following weekend I'm preaching. Noel is taking a brief trip to Chicago in a couple of weeks. At that DC meeting I'm doing a presentation and co-leading a workshop. Reports are due, memos await writing, and that's on top of the weekly round of teaching and writing.

It doesn't seem as overwhelming as September did. There's a mini-vacation in the middle of October. None of these little extra tasks will consume more than a couple of days of my time. At the end of the month, though, is a two-and-a-half week black hole. I'll be in DC for half a week, then three days after returning I go to Montreal for five days. The second trip, especially, should be therapeutic. I'll see lots of friends and colleagues, important work will be done, there will be time to immerse myself in my field and enjoy the city.

Every semester, one way or another, lurches from one crisis to the next. So right now I'm enjoying the relative normalcy of my days and trying not to anticipate the stress of what's coming until it actually hits.