Stumble It!
I have some thoughts on the end of my first year back at University and on turning 45.
The term officialy ended for me today. But I still need to turn in my portfolio for one class for marking. It's not a big deal, and I really should start getting my gear out of the lockers anyway, and I need to have everything cleared out by the 29th.
The Art Department had an open house yesterday and I spent all day on my feet, either hanging pieces of art, being in a critique, or touring the open house. When I finally sat down for dinner last night, sitting felt very strange. I was so tired that I nearly nodded off in my salad. Even a coffee after dinner couldn't prevent me from toddling off to bed at 8:30 and sleeping solidly through the night.
This first year of school was a lot harder than I dreamed it would be. I knew I would have to work hard, I didn't realize how hard thought. If I declare a studio concentration then I'll have to put in even more work (and hours at school), and I think that with the situation at home the way it looks like it will be in the fall, I may stick to a regular program for now, and wait a bit before deciding if I want to go for the studio designation or not.
I am going to miss a lot of my school friends. I hope that I'll see some of them in the fall when we go back. Taking 3 courses a semester instead of 5 means that many of them will be off doing other things when I'm working through the required courses. But the department is small and I'm sure I'll see them in the halls at least.
I gained five pounds this term, and probably most of it over the last month when there was a lot of pizza and chinese food on the menu. But (hopefully) summer is on the way and more time walking and being outside will help a lot.
I turn 45 in a week and a half. Coming back to University now was a great thing for me and my family. I'm a lot happier, my kids are way more independant, and my husband is happy because I have something interesting to talk about at the end of the day. Of course the housework took a big hit this year. Lots of stuff fell behind as I made priorities. But I would do it all again in a heartbeat... actually I will do it all again, in September.
