New beginnings

Fall is my favorite season, without a doubt. Since my whole life has pretty much been tied to the academic calendar, first as a student and then as a college employee, I associate it with a return to normal rhythms and new beginnings. The cool mornings and evenings, which will hopefully be here soon enough, soften the days. The weather tends to be less extreme and encourages renewed focus and hibernating instincts.

Contrary to the slower movement autumn wants to usher in, the season is often insanely busy. For instance, we are in just the second week of classes, but the first one was so overwhelming that I feel like I'm in need of break already. Today provided one in the excuse of needing to wait for a cable repair worker to come to my place. (Discovery HD kept showing as currently unavailable and refused to pop up when my cable box was reset remotely.) I could have changed the time of the service call, but I got permission to come home in the middle of the day.

I did some work from home while I waited. It was really nice to enjoy being out of the office when I would ordinarily be there. The technician never did come--I cancelled the appointment after he was 45 minutes overdue and a channel check showed the problem had fixed itself--but those few hours allowed me to reenergize for the forthcoming exhaustion.

I carved out a few minutes to knit and was reminded of how critical it can be to helping me grab a portion of the slowness that the season suggests I indulge. I look forward to seeing what I'm able to accomplish this fall. I've been knitting for almost two years, yet there's still so much for me to explore and enjoy. It's my time for learning just like the students who show up waiting to discover what their tuition gets them. Perhaps I should cut myself the break I give them and just concentrate on trying my best, reveling in the process, and seeing what happens.