Tallying up the summer

Still reeling from the accusations of writing a depressing blog, I want to, in true cliché fashion, focus on the positive. Actually, I’m getting a bit reflective, somewhat nostalgic and want to impress on my mind what’s been accomplished and what’s gone well, in order to thwart my obsessive nature which always says, “I could’ve done more, coulda worked harder, coulda got up earlier, coulda had more energy” (you get the picture). So, on with the list in no particular order:

I started a blog and have been writing more frequently than I have for years (excluding crunch time papers).

My 4-year old son gives me hugs everyday as I’ve been home a lot (he loves and needs much hugging) and he still plays a bedtime goodnight game I started with him a year ago or so: “I love you…I love you more….I love you the most ….I love you more than the most….I love you the mostest” etc. infinitum until I give in and let him love me more.

I lost my running habit which led to extra time and energy to study—most theoretical and difficult reading done since starting SLCC.

Took kids backpacking—memory is bliss even though actual event was sorta o.k.

I baptized my 8-year old daughter. We had a few nice connections before and after, something I generally struggle to create with my very quiet not so bookish, people-focused daughter.

I read Joe Harris’ A Teaching Subject and felt rejuvenated professionally.

Several students got something out of my first go round with Envision: one students created a rhetorically savvy website and several students thanked me for having a class that allowed them to explore their interests.

I've had more time to talk and watch movies with my wife—I would have never guessed it could feel quite this way after 13 years.

I made time for my hometeaching (Mormon church visits) and while most were very perfunctory, checking it off the list as it were, one visit was quite amazing: a young couple facing some of life’s big changes in a very similar fashion to what we did 10 years ago. Husband had just accepted a job and wife was quitting her job so they could move south and then have their baby in September. In a rare fit of listening for me, I realized they just wanted to talk and be reassured.

Experienced beauty of the west: Yellowstone’s colorful hot pools, Island Park’s slow moving rivers, Zion’s amazing views atop Angel’s Landing, and the Uintas’ glassy lakes and cloudy skies.

Was around to see son ride his bike without training wheels—hadn’t needed them for months but was oh so attached.

Made time to watch older classics: Hitchcock’s Notorious (great dialogue but hard to believe they are really spies) and Vertigo; Fellini’s 8 ½ (not as great as billed); Bertoluccis’ (and Brando’s) The Last Tango in Paris (as disturbing as I expected); Brest’s (and Pacino’s) Scent of a Woman (I love Pacino—“Whoo-ah”); Ingmar Bergman’s Cries and Whispers.

Have amazingly curious kids who were willing to watch non-Disney films: several Charlie Chaplin’s including Gold Rush (great scene where the house is teetering off the cliff—kids giggled like crazy); several three stooges films; Phantom of the Opera and others.

Completed first biathlon.

Helped neighbor with swimming pool even though said neighbor has been extremely insensitive with us in the past.

Finished Plato’s Gorgias

Gained much insight and understanding of composition field and SLCC English dept. by serving on the hiring committee.