New year

I always resist the end of summer. Somehow the return of routines and schedules challenges my imagined visions of what could be. Summer seems full of possibilities, long empty days and sunset walks on the beach. But in reality it's as much here-and-there and errand-packed as any other season, and especially so with our kids home for weeks. You'd think I'd learn, but every year it's the same: the hopes and dreams of summer get hit with cold rain as fall begins.

Yet I used to love the back-to-school season as a kid. After months of summer boredom, here at last was a return to being with friends and learning new things, with new clothes and notebooks to top it off. Funny how that changed with adulthood. Something about the sped-up passage of time, the wistfulness of seeing kids grow up, and the neverending to-do list has shifted things.

Our daughter is in classes already at her college, and this weekend I take our son back to his boarding school in Connecticut for junior year. The sunsets come earlier now, the mornings are cooler, and the dreaded pumpkin spice flavor is back in force. New beginnings are at hand. So in this new school year I pray the wonderful Prayer for Courage from the Corrymeela Community in Northern Ireland: May we be courageous today. May we learn today. May we love today. Amen.