Although we haven't yet quite made it to 110F at my zip code in Vegas yet this summer, I have enjoyed coming home each night for the past two weeks and doing absolutely nothing. Well, that's not quite the story, but there is nothing that I MUST do each night, and that's wonderful. My father suggested earlier this year that I take summer off from teaching, and although I have other responsibilities and a research project to keep me busy during the day, it's nice not having anything I must do.
For the past four years straight, I have taught ever semester including summers with breaks only when students are not on campus. Although it feels strange to walk around while others are busy teaching without having reason to interface with students, I enjoy going home without having any grading or prep to do. When I leave work at 5PM, I leave work. If I like, I lie around and watch movies while I feel the air conditioning blow on me, and when it gets cool enough in the evening, I go out into the back yard to enjoy the plants, check on weeding, and make sure everything is watered. I find it amazing how much cooler the yard is this year for just having completed the landscaping from bare dirt/rocks last fall. I know that's different from standing all day in the sun, but this summer doesn't feel all that bad so far.
Sometimes I feel guilty doing nothing. It doesn't seem to bother most of my coworkers some of whom arrive hours late and leave hours early, but I do like to have something to do. It is nice to be the one deciding what to do and sometimes deciding to do absolutely nothing. I know that my ancestors would salivate at the level of freedom and luxury that I enjoy and they would shake a fist at me to see me shirking and sitting there doing nothing. As for Vegas, I think the original settlers would totally understand; I've seen photographs of them during the heat of a summer day doing as little as they absolutely must to stay alive. It's arduous here which is probably why it was never permanently settled until the advent of refrigeration!
Without the urgent and important work associated with teaching, I finally have time to do something I like to do with my time. I'm catching up on my naps, getting to the bank during normal banking hours, paying attention to the silk worms that eat my texas mountain laurels each summer and retard their growth, and reading for fun again. When I feel hungry in the evening, I walk over to the Sonic for a milk shake or a drink and don't feel bad since I burned most of the calories I consume just walking over. I volunteered this summer as a Park Service Trail Guide at Mt. Charleston, and so I spent all of last Saturday until 5PM wandering around in the wilderness talking to people, helping people if they needed it, and doing statistics. The poor young guy they paired with me was totally exhausted after our 21 mile day, but it was all in a day's work for me.
I thank God to be born in time and circumstances that free me to pursue my interests. Many of my ancestors even in recent times earned their living via subsistence farming. We have plentiful, fresh, and nutritious food available to us in a store less than a mile from my house, and so I walk over there sometimes and buy things I wouldn't have thought worth the price ten years ago so that I can be fit and healthy and enjoy my meals rather than eating because it's time. Plus, walking makes me grateful for climate control, for a car, and for the function and use of all my limbs. If I like, I don't have to be in a hurry. I have nothing else I must do, and that's wonderful.
For your listening pleasure, Bing Crosby et al with our theme song.
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