Finals Week

Well, I'm exhausted. I had a long day of painful grading of papers, most of which made little sense. But the good news is that I'm done with grading and grades are in. Tomorrow I meet with students to give them their final paper scores back. Hopefully there won't be too much whining about it all. I always hate the part where I post grades online and then hold my breath to see how many mean emails I get right after that.

I was walking through campus yesterday thinking about how beautiful the weather is here right now. Then, I started thinking about how there's always the same frantic feeling during finals week and how it comes right when the nice weather comes. And then I started thinking that this my 14th semester of finals (counting undergrad, MA, and now). Isn't that weird? On top of that, I'm about to turn 25 and that is freaky and scary. I am not what I thought a 25 year old would be like.

Anyway, there's not really any point to this post except to make one somewhat insightful observation. I'm not freaking out this finals week as much as usual. I don't want to just run away and forget it all. I'm tired and I'm working hard, but I'm still alive. And somehow I'm more able to handle this stress than usual.

I'm not sure whether it's: a) things have gotten easier, b) I have figured out how to get through things more easily, or c) I just don't care as much anymore.

Whatever the reason, I'll take it! Because today, I walked the dog and I literally took time to stop and smell all the flowers in bloom. And damn it, that counts for something!