Saturday, July 14, 2012

Teaching Priorities

It's going to a few months of changes for me. My youngest child, my only daughter, is leaving this fall for Boston University. There aren't words to how much I'll miss her. We do so much together...

I'll also be starting my last year teaching next month after over thirty years in the public school system. I'm not having any sad thoughts about it, but I'll miss my students. Still, how many times will I be saying over the next twelve months, 'this is the last time for this.'

Another big change has started two days ago. My oldest son, now a teacher himself, bought his own house. He's in the process of moving out. Even people in their twenties manage to collect a lot of 'stuff.' He's been making numerous journeys in his car, packing and unpacking the same few boxes. There's no hurry, but it's interesting to see what he's taken and what is left behind. He has coaching responsibilities during the summer so he took most of his athletic clothing. His computer is still standing on his little corner desk. He uses it mostly for gaming(conquering the world). Only one possession is completely moved to his new domicile. All his books.  And there are lots of them. The only pieces of furniture he wanted to take with him were his bookshelves. His Kindle isn't laying around anyway either. Good boy.
Not what my son's new house looks like!

Today my daughter and I went into BAM. We can't resist. They had buy two get one free paperbacks. She wanted to buy a three book fantasy series that I already have on my book shelf. She said she needed to take it to Boston with her. I said take my copy. She said it's nearly worn out. This is the child who just received her AP scores in the mail and scored fives on all five of the tests she took in May. We bought the books.

My children know I can never say no to books. Even though we buy most of them as digital recently, we have more books than some libraries. As my children scatter to the world, I can't help but feel ... good.  They love to read. There's so much before them and they have the tools to discover their life's path and I'll know they'll do great. I hope if you have children, you buy them lots of books.

9 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Warning you now - your son will leave a lot behind. Parents' homes always become free storage.

mshatch said...

I think I would like that living room; it's like the perfect space - even with the piano, an instrument I would love to learn how to play someday. An congrats on raising some great kids :)

Anonymous said...

A passion for reading is one of the greatest gifts a parent can leave a child. Sure, they may go through their twenties with higher priorities, but eventually they'll come back. I did. I read more now than I ever did.

Cate Masters said...

Wow, so many changes Susan! How wonderful they share your love of reading.
I'd love to have a living room like that! I think I have enough books to fill those shelves. :)

Catherine Stine said...

Such an emotion-packed summer! The transition is hard, but they'll BE BACK, in your life, in your house for dinner, and vacation and you'll delve into all manner of amazing new things no doubt! I buy my boys books always--the latest? The history of Istanbul for my eldest.

Catherine Stine said...

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Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

Alex, you speak true. I remember leaving stuff behind at my parents until they downsized and threatened to throw it all out.

Jemi Fraser said...

Awesome! I have books everywhere too. The students in my class & students from previous classes use my classroom instead of the library because I have more books in there! It gets a little crowded, but it's great!

Ava Quinn said...

Wow, last year of teaching. That's amazing and outstanding and probably a little sad. I know you'll miss the students (I do), but not the b.s.

And with the coming of your mainly empty nest, all of that will take some adjusting. The bright side will be more time to write! And that's a pretty blindingly bright side!

I'm very happy for you!