Gearing down

Tomorrow is one of only two really busy days for me this week; I have a meeting at Archer's school, a final exam-cum-potluck at midday, and a final party in the evening.  Friday is senior thesis and banquet day, an always lengthy slog made more stressful this year by the Board of Trustees meeting at which the Green Bear Project petitions will be presented.

After that, the semester is really, truly over.  Well, except for submitting grades and doing various marathon clean-up meetings next week.  But that's very different from the kind of busy-ness that pervades my normal life.

What surprises me is how tired I am.  Maybe it's just finally coming down after being on high weather alert for the past two weeks.  Maybe it's getting neither enough exercise nor sleep.  Maybe it's just having a long unbroken day spent staring at a computer screen grading student work, a soporific exercise if carried on for more than an hour at a pop.  Maybe I'm coming down with something.

I feel like I could go to bed right now and sleep for a week.  I know students feel this way around this time of the semester, but their lives are typically far less balanced than mine.  Perhaps my weariness is a sign that I've lost the balance myself.  Fortunately I have three good months to work on getting it back.