First Days of Summer 2025

Puerto Rico 2025- Day 5 Our newest version of the empty nest

First Days of Summer 2025

Teachers NEED summer. I'm so thankful for how God modeled and ordained rest. Since the first official day of summer was just a few days ago, I thought I'd take a few minutes to talk about my summer break so far.

My first week of "summer break" I spent in Puerto Rico with five students and one amazing coworker. Though not restful and technically still working, it counted! However, it wasn't with family, and making memories apart from your family can be a bit awkward when you come home.

Less than 48 hours after coming home, I walked out onto my front porch in my socks to make a phonemail and somehow got bit by little ants (or possibly chiggers?), leading to a swollen toe two days later and having to start antibiotics two days after that. I already know I'm allergic to chiggers, so if they weren't chiggers, I guess I'm allergic to whatever they were, too.

My second week, I pretty much slept, nursed my swollen toe, and soaked up the much needed solitude, other than a quick meet-up for coffee with lady friends from my discipleship group.

My third week, I attended trainings, took care of annual check-ups, enjoyed a game night with our community group, and had a little reunion with our Dominican team while having a baby shower for a missionary couple we met there from our church.

This week, I had a FREE calendar without a single appointment scheduled. Summer has finally arrived for me. I can breathe, think, reflect, and look ahead. I'm not in a rush. I'm not hurrying to finish something. I'm not pulled in a million directions at once. I have margin in my life again where I can say yes to spontaneous coffee with a friend, a mid-afternoon meet up with my discipleship group, hang out with friends to play card games, or be available to pick up a friend who needed to leave her car at the mechanic. I can run to town with my son and share lunch together. I can go for a long walk (until my heel spur says that's enough), try new and longer workouts in the mornings, make healthy breakfasts and lunches, dig into a Bible study I've had tucked away on the shelf, read a lot of books, write on my blog, and hang out on my porch with the hummingbirds--and my cat. I can play around with new digital tools I acquired in my trainings without the overwhelm adding one more thing to my plate.

Teaching is a hard job. I can't see myself doing anything else, and I chose to challenge myself with a new grade level last year that stretched me in so many ways. That choice gave me something to work on and many new growth areas to focus on, but it's a choice I'm so glad I made. But it's also a choice that left me exhausted and stretched thin, making summer a necessity. Sometimes you get so busy that you don't realize how much you truly need rest.

When I met up with a friend for coffee last week, I told her how it felt to be able to breathe and think again. I let her know that it was my commitment to stay "unbooked" during summer months, and I was reminded of God teaching me that lesson many years ago as a teacher. Sometimes it's hard to relax and not be productive every minute--but it's okay to just sit outside in the sunshine and listen to the birds and do nothing sometimes.