Second Spring Break!

During my school’s spring break this year, I was worried about one of my doggies, who has since passed, and I spent 2 full days feeling sick while preparing for a colonoscopy that didn’t end up happening. It was kind of a sucky break.

I don’t want to make it sound like my spring break was all bad, though. I also took some longer walks with the dogs, knit, and spent plenty of time sleeping. By the end of the week, I just wasn’t recharged.

After just a week back at school after spring break, I started thinking about taking a week off. Could I get my classes to a spot where would be ok for them to have a week off? Wouldn’t it be cool if I could take a week off right in the middle of the rest of the semester to recharge? How am I going to take off when I can’t really plan to “be sick” and use sick days? (I take time off so rarely, I forgot how to report it to work!)

The closer it got to week 13 of the semester, when I wanted to take my break, the more things lined up so that I could take a week off without worrying about my students. They’d still be able to get their work done during the semester. I figured out I could use my personal days, and I decided when I’d tell students the plan. I also realized that after my Second Spring Break, I’d just have 4 weeks of school left for the year.

All in all, it was a good plan.

I took some time to get to some grading I hadn’t gotten to—yes, I worked on my “spring break.” It was worth it to have some time off classes and just grade though. I took my dog hiking to see Virginia Blue Bells, my favorite spring flower, I cleaned the house (just a little), started planning a vacation for my husband, and visited my parents. I can get a lot done when I’m not at work.

I still have this weekend before I go back to school on Monday, and I’ll probably work a bit to make sure I am ready to go back.

I think that I am a bit more recharged after this break. I am usually so exhausted by the end of the school year that even recharging for an extra week will probably just get me through the next month. That’ll work though because then it will be Summer Break!

Peace Out (and in!),

Julie