Gratitude: the return
I put a post on Facebook today about this term being deathly, and got many noises of agreement from many places. The university is a complete ball of tension these days. I hadn't really realized how much that was affecting me till the last couple of days—though the twitching eyelid I've had for three weeks should have been a signal.
I was kind of dismissive of media worries about the psychological difficulties in store for us upon re-entry to normal life. But now I wonder how much of what feels bad at work now comes from having been in our own bubbles for a while. Oh, c'mon, now. Academics have always been in their own bubbles.
Anyhow, it's been two months since my last gratitude note. Gratitude has been very prominent in my mind, though, since there has been much to be grateful for. The thoughts are enough until I get to the point where the eye is twitching and the stomach is sour and I realise the bad stuff is taking too much space.
Today, I am grateful for:
- Our wonderful students. Especially the ones who talk! Classrooms are definitely better than Zoom rooms for teaching. It's particularly exciting to have a few who are excited to talk about ideas.
- Zoom. Not great for teaching, but great for one-to-one meetings. I had a couple of those today, where I got to talk through some of the stressy stuff (thanks, friends) and I'm also enjoying using Zoom for my drop-in office hours. The students actually "come" to talk to me! (They don't make their beds, but at least they want to talk with me.)
- My wonderful linguistics colleagues. I'm a broken record on this, but really. Really.
- Melanie's willingness to co-teach with me, and all her work, on a very weird module that we're making up as we go along (and I'm enjoying very much).
- Working with a colleague from another department on some co-curricular stuff. Very collegial.
- That G's been coming home from school with good news most days—a little success or recognition or an interesting topic to discuss.
- That G is very complimentary to her parents and still likes to cuddle on the sofa.
- For mild weather in mid-October. It was a beautiful night to be out on the town. (What we went out for disappointed a bit, so it was extra good that the walk there was so pleasant.)
- That Ph and I get to go out on the town (without the cost of a babysitter now!)
- For the M&S smoky bowl, which I stockpile in my office for days when I have no leftovers to bring to work. And everything else I ate today. Food is good.
Next week is going to be a lot of work, but I'm looking forward to my Writing Bee (what we're calling co-writing events at our house) tomorrow—and I'm grateful for the changes to our house that have made entertaining so much more pleasant.
 |
| postcard from G's school |