and then there is summer

Ritual.  

Life is ritual and routine.  

Coffee, breakfast, dog, work, lunch, classes, dinner, dishes, walk, relax, sleep, repeat.  Repeat. 

A second year in Alaska has taught me as much as the first.  I learned how to teach adolescents and all the busy-ness that comes with that.  Each day was broken apart by class periods, passing periods, attendance, and tardy slips.  Instead of coaxing the solutions to story problems, I broke down artistic process into manageable steps.  As hastily as the school year began, it ended.

Now comes this other part of life.  The part were Isaac and I break routine.  We leave to visit with our families.  Slipping in and out of their routines.  We bounce from coast to coast, house to house.  The summer ritual is keeping luggage tidy, finding coffee, checking in and out of flights.  And the dog.